Painter and designer Olja Pristaš from Banja Luka said that protecting the environment has become "in" in recent years. There are many simple but important daily habits that we can change to be better towards nature - riding a bike to work avoids morning crowds and reduces air pollution, water in a dedicated bottle will not heat up quickly, and we have spared the environment of at least one discarded package every time we use this alternative.

The global challenges facing the world, including poverty, inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, jeopardized peace and justice, are covered in the Agenda 2030, the importance of which has been recognized by Bosnia and Herzegovina, and which includes an action plan for people, the planet and prosperity.

With the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Framework, as well as the establishment of the SDGs Council, this year all levels of government in Bosnia and Herzegovina have recognized the importance of the SDGs and the Agenda 2030. The Framework identifies three main directions for the future development of the country, good governance and management of the public sector, smart growth and a society of equal opportunities for all.

This sustainable future development of our country contributes to the preservation of the environment, as well as the protection of the planet.

The workshop for a drawing of a vision of the future of our planet, as part of the event “Let’s protect the planet” held in early July in Banja Luka, aimed to encourage children to think about the importance of preserving the environment. The 30-year-old artist who led this workshop explained how the children depicted the Earth through their drawings.

He added that he was especially delighted with the work of a boy who drew the ‘Day of the Glowing Sun’ where he presented the warmest day he experienced. Due to climate change, Bosnia and Herzegovina is recording an increase in temperature which has become more visible in recent years. It is important for the younger generations to understand that climate change is caused by human activity, and what the consequences are for the society and the environment. Mr. Pristaš pointed out: “I think that young people will work the way we teach them and the way we show them, and not the way we tell them to.”

Preserving the environment for the businesses of the future

In Bosnia and Herzegovina, there are examples of those who have shown that it is possible to change the approach and make a step forward in environmental protection, while developing business at the same time.

The company Smrčak from Zvornik has existed for more than three decades and is engaged in the collection, processing and trade of mushrooms, medicinal herbs, forest fruits, fruits and vegetables. The company’s owner Miladin Mijatovic said that the company, which has 48 full-time employees and more than 2,000 subcontractors, most of whom are women, exports its organic products entirely to European countries.

He said: “I think that we still have no awareness in BiH when it comes to organic products and healthy food, and that only cheaper products are still sought,” emphasizing that the approach of his company is “consumer health, number one, avoiding to pollute the environment, number two, restoring those old habits when our grandparents provided us with healthy food and when we were healthy and resistant to any challenges and diseases, number three.“

Mijatović believes that the return to organic production is the future in BiH as well.

Smrčak is the winner of this year’s Award for Business Leaders of Sustainable Development, which aims to promote the efforts and engagement of the private sector in the field of sustainable development in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This award recognizes and emphasizes the efforts of the private sector related to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in BiH and motivates new participants in this sector to include SDGs in their business models. The award ceremony is organized within the project “Support to preparation for the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals and the involvement of the private sector” implemented by UNDP and funded by Sweden.

Preserving the environment is a team effort

In addition to the awards ceremony, an exhibition was set up in Banja Luka and Sarajevo on topic of the benefits of implementing energy efficiency measures in public institutions and the results of the UNDP project “Green Economic Development” (GED) funded by Sweden. This project aims to create conditions to increase investments in this field, increase the number of “green jobs”, and contribute to economic development and environmental protection.

Among other things, the GED project has thus far improved the energy efficiency of 229 public buildings and 13 public lighting systems, created 2,090 “green” jobs, improved working and living conditions for more than 150,000 people and achieved more than 5.5 million BAM annual savings in public budgets that were reinvested.

One of the public buildings whose energy efficiency has been improved, is Banja Luka Music School “Vlado Milošević”. Students of that school, cellist Una Šušnica and violinist Andreas Ćurić, performed at the event “Let’s protect the planet” in Banja Luka.

She said: “The school I attend is in itself a wonderful place to work. I’m glad that they installed the thermal insulation that we really needed a couple of years ago”. “It would be phenomenal if everyone understood that people who are persistently trying to awaken environmental awareness are doing so not only for the sake of other living beings on the planet, but also for our benefit.”

A special installation was set up as part of this event in Banja Luka and Sarajevo, that showed the enchanting beauty of the planet Earth - Terralona. Una Šušnica said that it made her think about “how unique our planet really is and how grateful we should be that it is our home”.

She said: “Preserving the environment is based on teamwork and living habits such as recycling, saving water and electricity,”. “I hope that we will witness a more beautiful and healthier life in the near future.”

First exhibited in Brno last year, Terralóna is the fruit of creativity that uses architecture, light and video projections, and produces an exceptional and unusual experience for visitors. The planet Earth which in reality has a diameter of 12,756 kilometers, is shown through the installation of Terralóna with a diameter of 10 meters on the occasion of the #ProtectPlanet campaign, which emphasizes the importance of environmental protection and the Agenda 2030.

Michal Okleštěk and Jan Machát, CEOs of VISUALOVE, a group of multimedia architects with a love of visual experiences said: “People should build as close a relationship as possible with the planet we live on and preserve it well. This model should show this in a non-traditional way”. “The ten-meter model is very impressive and makes a man to realize how fragile and vulnerable our planet is.”