prijava
SARAJEVO, July 19 (FENA) - According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which scientifically assesses endangered species globally and according to established criteria, human impact is constantly increasing - man is destroying the living world directly or indirectly, by destroying the habitats of endangered species.
As the possibilities of nature protection, i.e., the application of protection measures are insufficient to stop such development tendencies, it is necessary to categorize the species according to the degree of their endangerment and to determine priorities accordingly. This is exactly what the Red Book makes possible.
Based on the established criteria, some of the degrees of endangerment are added to the species, regardless of whether it is at the global, regional or national level. Each country strives to establish "its own Red List in order to ensure the most rational and successful protection of endangered species at the state level. According to the experiences of other countries in the region and the world, the drafting of national Red Books was preceded by Red Lists with an assessment of the state of all areas in the country, a list of endangered plant and animal species and endangered categorization.
Fulltime professor at the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics (PMF) Sarajevo, Department of ecology and botanics, nature protection and biodiversity expert, GIS and remote sensing expert Samir Đug told FENA that the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) had established Red lists back in 1964. Today, they represent the most reliable and comprehensive source of information on the global risk of extinction for plant and animal species, as well as for fungi. The IUCN Red List is a key indicator of biodiversity health on a global level.
"In addition to the list of species, it is a very powerful tool for informing and catalyzing actions aimed at the conservation of biological diversity, which is vital for the preservation of natural resources that are necessary for our survival. The red lists provide information on distribution, population size, habitat and ecology, use and trade, threats, and conservation activities necessary for successful and long-term protection," he said.
Thus, as part of the implementation of the Project of Forest and Mountain Protected Areas in 2014, the project of making the Red List of endangered plants, animals, and fungi in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina was conducted after a long time. This list, in addition to the names of the species (Latin and common name), synonyms for the given species, also gives the status of the species according to IUCN and in the Federation of BiH, as well as data on its distribution and literature data.
Bosnia and Herzegovina does not have a Red Book as a single document, and neither does it have a single Red List.
"Since nature protection is the responsibility of the entities, unfortunately, BiH does not have a single Red List for the entire country. There are red lists for entities that differ. Although experts from both entities often cooperate on this issue, a single document has not been made yet," says Đug.
He also points out that the Red Books are one of the necessary documents in the field of nature protection that BiH needs to compile in the process of joining the European Union.
The project of compiling the Red List of Flora, Fauna and Fungi in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina resulted in data on the state of flora in the FBiH. Thus, according to the collected data from a total of 659 species on the Red List of Flora of FBiH, the largest number belongs to the category of vulnerable (VU) - 26.25 percent, in the category of endangered (EN) 22 percent while critically endangered are (CR) 10.94 percent.
Speaking about the human impact on the ecosystem, among other things related to the construction of mini-hydro power plants, Đug points out that the data on the status of certain species listed in the FBiH Red List are used in the study of zero ecosystems in areas affected by significant infrastructure facilities, such as highways, hydropower plants, wind farms, etc.
If the results of this research show that there are habitats of rare or endangered species in such an area, it is necessary to define mitigation measures, which includes stopping the construction of the facility.
Đug emphasizes that one of the biggest threats to biodiversity is the construction of hydropower facilities, which are often built in locations that are habitats of endangered species. Every human intervention, he underlined, causes certain consequences in the environment and natural resources.
"In the course of the construction of hydropower facilities, a large area is covered, the natural environment is changed and new secondary habitats are created to which the flora and fauna are trying to adapt. Anthropogenic influences change the appearance of rivers, and thus the habitat of the aquatic ecosystem, to which they are accustomed. In order for their biological processes to run smoothly, they must be provided with the right conditions to do so. Today it is known that dams are generally one of the main anthropogenic disturbances of life in our aquatic system. The problem is all the greater because river ecosystems are among the most endangered ecosystems in general, as evidenced by the fact that in the red list of endangered species, the majority are those species that depend on natural, free-flowing rivers," stressed professor Samir Đug.
(FENA) S. R.
