Center for Environment: Getting Bosnia's Second City to Go Dam-Free

Founded in 1999 by science students at the University of Banja Luka, the Center for Environment (CZZS) protects Bosnia and Herzegovina's rivers, forests, and protected areas through research, litigation, and grassroots organizing. Its campaigning helped persuade Banja Luka, the country's second-largest city, to join the 'Dam-Free Municipalities' initiative in 2022, committing to consult citizens before any dam or small hydropower permit is issued on the Vrbas River and its tributaries, bringing the number of signed-up municipalities and cities to 13. CZZS is also pushing to protect the Neretva river's last free-flowing tributaries, the Buna, Bunica, Bregava, and Trebižat, through biodiversity surveys and formal protection proposals, at a time when Bosnia and Herzegovina already has 120 small hydropower plants operating and 353 more planned or under construction.