“Think Nature!” August: Annual Project Conference

August was completely marked by the Annual Conference, which marked two years of the project.

Involvement of stakeholders – civil society organizations, institutions, institutions, companies, and others – which nine Eco HUBs have achieved in a total of 41 municipalities, advocating networks of civil society organizations for various purposes, among others, and protection of certain natural areas, social initiatives the responsibility of companies, such as reducing the use of plastic packaging in coffee machines, media projects such as the series on the different types of pollution we face – these are just some of the topics discussed in a total of eight panels of the two-day Annual Conference “Think Nature!”.

Each of these areas had a separate panel. The partner organizations of the Center for the Promotion of Civil Society, beneficiaries of grants within the project “Think Nature!”, 31 of them, presented the results achieved in the past two days. Real environmental movements have been launched through the work of the Eco HUB network, advocacy networks, corporate social responsibility initiatives, and media in over 60 municipalities in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In addition to them, panels were held to discuss the achievements in activities towards young people, journalists, and within the campaign “I plant, and you?”.

Young people, in particular, spoke about the recently held Summer Camp on Igman, where about 60 young environmental activists from all parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina, improved their skills and acquired new knowledge and skills in this area. Participants in the panel “I plant, you?” Were members of some of the 100 families that received 3,000 seedlings as part of this campaign. The “I plant, and you?” Campaign was created amid the pandemic to promote permaculture and the idea that food can be produced in urban areas in small spaces such as balconies and apartment windows. This has been achieved through the awarding of seedlings, the creation of online courses, the awarding of prizes for the most beautiful mini gardens, and many other activities. Satisfaction with the campaign was not hidden by the participants of the conference today.

The annual conference, in addition to sublimating the results achieved by the Center for the Promotion of Civil Society, together with its partners, within the project “Think of Nature!”, Was a space for entertainment and awarding the winners of some of the competitions.

Thus, five young people from different parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sara Ninković, Anel Hotić, Mahir Tahirović, Dino Pantić, and Amela Mehanović, were awarded yesterday for the best videos on the Instagram video challenge “Summer Eco Holiday”.

In addition, after a panel dedicated to the topic of media, the winners of the “Eco Journalist” award for objective, professional, and influential environmental reporting, for papers published since the beginning of 2020, were announced. In the text category, the award went to Sadeta Bajrović, a journalist from the Center for Investigative Reporting, for a text on financing small hydropower plants from BiH citizens’ money, and the award for the best audio/video story went to RTV FBiH journalist Sanel Kajan for a TV report on Uborak The photo of Davorin Sekulić, photo reporter of the Klix.ba portal, was chosen as the best photo, and the accompanying photo in the article “Let’s run for the salvation of the rivers of Bosnia and Herzegovina” was chosen for the accompanying photo.

The annual conference, which ended today, marked two years of implementation of the “Think Nature!” Project, which the Center for Civil Society Promotion is implementing with the financial support of Sweden. This is a three-year project, so in the coming period we will have numerous activities and the fight to save the environment in Bosnia and Herzegovina.