The project “Supporting Decision Making and Capacity Building to Support IPBES through National Ecosystem Assessment” is implemented through the Center for Ecology and Natural Resources “Academician Sulejman Redžić“, Faculty of Science, University of Sarajevo. The project short name is “Assessing the state of nature and managing natural resources in Bosnia and Herzegovina.”
The project will be presented to the public on Thursday, 17 October in Sarajevo at 10:00, Swissôtel (Vrbanja 1). The project will be presented by a representative of the Federal Ministry of the Environment and Tourism and project coordinator Prof. Dr. Senka Barudanović.

The ecosystem assessment and ecosystem services assessment project and document is crucial for Bosnia and Herzegovina as it represents a significant step towards sustainable nature management. A lack of scientific data relevant to sustainable nature management in Bosnia and Herzegovina is generally known. The results of the relevant scientific work are only partially published, publicly available and used for nature management purposes. In order to gain insight into the state of biodiversity and ecosystem services, to understand the extent of direct (physical) and indirect (social) pressures on nature, to understand existing management options and future scenarios arising from established data, it is necessary today to analyze and integrate information from all available sources (published and unpublished scientific research results, technical reports, as well as traditional knowledge sources).

Funds for the implementation of this international project have been provided by IKI (Climate Initiative of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Protection and Nuclear Safety). The first recipient of IKI funding, with which the University directly cooperates, is the World Conservation Monitoring Center (WCMC), based in Cambridge, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The project implementation agreement was signed on 17 December 2018 by the University of Sarajevo Rector, Prof. Dr. Rifat Škrijelj and Dr. Timothy Johnson, WCMC Chief Executive Officer. The project was signed for the period from 01 October 2018 to 31 March 2023.

Bosnia and Herzegovina is one of four countries in the world (BiH, Cambodia, Azerbaijan and Grenada), which, through WCMC, last year approved for IKI donor funds to implement this important project.
The project implements the principles and working methods of the UN Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). IPBES seeks to develop and establish ongoing dialogue between the scientific community and nature decision makers, with a view to completing records for better informed decision-making, in particular on the use of natural resources. The project should result in a (Assessment) document that will provide scientists with direction for relevant future research and make available to existing decision makers existing domestic scientific and professional arguments for making sustainable decisions in the use of nature. The Summary for Policy Makers (SPM), which will contain key messages, should go through a consultative process of alignment, and political acceptance and adoption.

The purpose of the project is to establish an instrument for making informed decisions on the use of biodiversity and natural resources.

The objectives of the project are:

1. Prepare an Ecosystem and Ecosystem Services Assessment in Bosnia and Herzegovina, including the development of ancillary tools for policy makers
2. Develop and make available policy support tools and methodologies
3. Establish a National Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (DPBES) in IPBES
4. Establish conditions for effective use of the Assessment
5. Provide guidance to national project teams in other countries

Successful implementation of this significant project for Bosnia and Herzegovina requires the engagement and quality and continuous participation of a number of scientists of different profiles, decision makers in different sectors (economy, forestry, water management, agriculture, energy, health, transport, civilian affairs, etc.), the non-governmental sector and representatives of international organizations in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The project team implements activities in collaboration and under the direction of the project coordinator. In addition to the coordinator, the project team consists of a group of co-chairs of the Assessment, a project officer and project administrators. The Co-Chair of the Assessment is the originator of the document and its main authors.

In addition to co-chairs, the project requires the authorship of a number of scientists from various natural and social sciences, but also decision makers and practitioners. According to the method of this Platform, followed by the project in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the specific Content of the Assessment will be defined in a previous dialogue between scientists, decision makers and other stakeholders (Scoping process).

The project will prepare an Assessment document, while serving capacity building, both in the scientific community by reaching out to significant members of the copyright team and in the community of decision-makers through raising awareness of the importance of sustainable use of nature. The preparation of the Assessment is a qualitatively new process in Bosnia and Herzegovina, namely the development of a climate of scientific-political dialogue and consultative decision-making about nature.