Provider: - Institution: - Data provided by Europeana Collections- In this paper we start from the hypothesis that in the Bosnian-Herzegovinian, transitional and divided society, it is impossible to define, adopt and implement a consistent environmental policy. Reasons for this view come from the essential structure of Bosnia and Herzegovina as a specific state with a complicated political system and institutional structure, overall underdevelopment and propensity to corruption and malpractices. Organization of the state creates an illusion of a decentralized government although it is essentially centralized at the entity, cantonal or the District level. The deep division of the society, along with other factors, causes the overall legal inefficiency. For many years, there has been strong resistance to the adoption of legislation on the protection of the natural environment, which resulted in selective application of environmental laws and pronounced resistance to harmonization with European Union legislation. In BiH, there is obvious political support of citizens towards national elites, when it comes to daily political issues, on one hand, and on the other hand, total apathy when it comes to environmental issues. Besides the political and institutional issues, the absence of functional environmental policies is caused by economic issues. BiH is, due to economic underdevelopment, located on the bottom of the European and global economies. The consequences are poverty, corruption, low levels of education and political culture of the population, which inevitably leads to irrational use of natural resources. Poor economic situation is partly the result of the disastrous consequences of war (economic, social and environmental), and the process of transition, based on the primitive capital accumulation and the logic of profit, leaving no room for ecology and environmental issues. The strong influence of the international community in Bosnia and Herzegovina, a century later, puts it again in the (neo) colonial position. Economic inefficiency is necessarily reflected in all aspects of environmental policy, as environmental issues in BiH are at the bottom of the priority list. The causes of such state of affairs are to be found in the under-developed environmental awareness among citizens and decision-makers. It is a consequence of poor educational structure and the lack of influence of media, educational, scientific, cultural and other institutions in the process of informing and educating the population, aimed at the forming of environmental awareness as the foundation of environmental policy. Insufficient presence of content on the protection of the natural environment in the media and in the educational process results in citizens not knowing their fundamental rights in this and other areas of civil rights, which is why they are losing confidence in government authorities. There is also a lack of public participation in decision-making on issues that determine the environmental policy but also on the concrete, everyday issues related to environmental protection. Acceptance of the principle of "modern utopianism" and the attitude that, because of the local and global ecological crisis, political and economic issues should not dominate over ecological in human everyday activities, creates an eternal dilemma in Bosnia and Herzegovina: whether environmental policy, based on indivisibility of water and air and responsibility for the resulting pollution, will become the nucleus of inter-ethnic reconciliation, state organization by European standards and the overall democratic process? A positive response means (environmental) policy based on responsibility for all decision-makers for present and future generations, consensus as the principle of action and the cornerstone of a multicultural society, informing, educating and motivating citizens to become true subjects in the building of democracy in Bosnia.- U ovom radu polazimo od teze da u bosansko-hercegovačkom, tranzicionom i podijeljenom društvu nije moguće definisati, usvojiti i provoditi konzistentnu ekološku politiku. Razlozi za ovakav stav proizilaze iz same strukture Bosne i Hercegovine kao specifične države, komplikovanog političkog sistema i organizacije institucija, njihove nerazvijenosti i sklonosti korupciji i zloupotrebama. Organizacija države, stvara privid decetralizovane vlasti mada je ona u suštini centralizovana na entitetskom, kantonalnom ili nivou Distrikta. Duboka podijeljenost društva je, zajedno sa drugim faktorima, razlog sveukupne pravne neefikasnosti. Pošto je godinama bio izražen otpor usvajanju zakonske regulative iz oblasti zaštite prirodne sredine, to je uticalo na selektivnu primjenu ekoloških zakona i naglašen otpor njihovom usaglašavanju sa zakonima Evropske unije. U BiH je evidentna politička podrška građana nacionalnim elitama, kada su u pitanju dnevnopolitičke teme, na jednoj, i prisustvo totalne apatije za ekološke teme na drugoj strani. Osim političko-institucionalnih, na odsustvo funkcionalne ekološke politike snažno utiču ekonomski uzroci. BiH se, zbog ekonomske nerazvijenosti, nalazi na dnu ljestvice evropskih i svjetskih ekonomija. Posljedice su siromaštvo, korupcija, nizak nivo obrazovanja i političke kulture stanovništva, što neminovno utiče na neracionalno korištenje prirodnih resursa. Lošem ekonomskom ambijentu doprinose i katastrofalne posljedice rata (ekonomske, socijalne i ekološke), i proces tranzicije, zasnovan na rođačkoj akumulaciji kapitala i logici profita, u kojoj nema mjesta za ekologiju i probleme zaštite životne sredine. Naglašen je i uticaj stranog faktora, što Bosnu i Hercegovinu, poslije jednog vijeka, ponovo stavlja u (neo)kolonijalni položaj. Ekonomska neefikasnost nužno se odražava na sve segmente ekološke politike, jer su pitanja zaštite životne sredine u BiH na dnu ljestvice prioriteta. Uzroci za ovakvo stanje, nalaze se u nedovoljno razvijenoj ekološkoj svijesti kod građana ali i kod donosilaca političkih odluka. Radi se o posljedici loše obrazovne strukture i nedovoljnog uticaja medija, obrazovnih, naučnih, kulturnih i drugih ustanova u procesu informisanja i obrazovanja stanovništva, a u cilju formiranja ekološke svijesti kao temelja ekološke politike. Nedovoljno prisustvo sadržaja o zaštiti prirodne sredine u medijima i obrazovnom procesu utiče da građani ne poznaju elementarna prava iz ove ali i drugih oblasti građanskih prava, zbog čega gube povjerenje u državne organe. Izraženo je i nedovoljno učešće javnosti u procesu odlučivanja o pitanjima na kojima se determiniše ekološka politika ali i o konkretnim, svakodnevnim pitanjima koja se odnose na zaštitu životne sredine. Prihvatajući načela „modernog utopizma“ i stav, da zbog lokalne i globalne ekološke krize, u čovjekovom svakodnevnom djelovanju ne smiju dominirati politička i ekonomska pitanja nad ekološkim, u Bosni i Hercegovini je prisutna vječita dilema; može li ekološka politika, zasnovana na nedjeljivosti vode i vazduha i odgovornosti za nastala zagađenja, postati nukleus međunacionalnog pomirenja, organizacije države po evropskim standardima i sveukupnog demokratskog procesa? Pozitivan odgovor podrazumijeva (ekološku) politiku utemeljenu na odgovornosti svih donosilaca političkih odluka za sadašnje ali i buduće generacije, konsenzus kao princip djelovanja i temelj multikulturalnog društva, informisanje, obrazovanje i motivisanje građana da postanu istinski subjekti u izgradnji demokratije u Bosni i Hercegovini.- All metadata published by Europeana are available free of restriction under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication. However, Europeana requests that you actively acknowledge and give attribution to all metadata sources including Europeana