In Bosnia and Herzegovina, flood management projects promise to reduce the threat of catastrophic floods, which are becoming more frequent due to climate change.

Locals residents like Saša Mirić still vividly remember the day in 2014 when the Sava River and its tributaries overflowed and spread out onto the surrounding land, inundating crops, households and businesses in Bosnia and Herzegovina. With no adequate flood warning or prevention system in place, the floods in 2014 were among the worst to strike Europe over the last 120 years, affecting over 100 000 people and causing an estimated €2 billion in damages.

“It was horrible. People lost their houses, crops, livestock. My parents' home was completely flooded. The water inside our house was almost a meter high”, recollects Mirić, a resident of the city of Bijeljina, which was badly affected.

Safer living conditions for over 640 000 people

The European Investment Bank had approved a loan of €55 million for a flood risk management project in the area back in 2012, which was later complemented by a €7.3 million technical assistance grant through the Western Balkans Investment Framework.

Although the work was not completed in time for the catastrophic events in 2014, the investments made since then should help to reduce the risk of such events in the future, bringing economic, social and environmental benefits to over 640 000 people.

“Ever since the embankment was built, we no longer have to fear floods. I think we can not only continue but also expand our production because we can be sure we will not suffer again like we did in 2014,” says Ostoja, a local farmer from Bijeljina.

The impact of these improvements is far-reaching and should improve the region’s resilience to natural disasters like floods, which are becoming more frequent due to climate change. They have enabled the rehabilitation of over 160 km of water channels and 100 km of dykes in the Sava river watershed and also the development of flood hazard and risk mapping in accordance with the EU Floods Directive. The maps, completed in 2021, provide for reliable and unified hydrological databases, which enable a flood risk assessment and prevention tool for all areas prone to flooding.

Flood risk mapping

“As part of the project activities, the project also financed additional aerial surveys as well as development of detailed basses for the digital terrain model, so that the maps created using these hydraulic models would be of the highest possible quality”, says Damir Mrđen, Director of the Adriatic Sea Watershed Agency. “We will most certainly use the produced maps and models in our daily work, especially in terms of the development of the Flood Risk Management Plans”.

The project applied state-of-the-art scanning techniques and customised transformation software to map out 5 500 km² of land and survey 5 253 river cross sections and hydraulic structures all over the country, leading to the development of 93 advanced hydraulic models. These were used as the basis for the production of 136 flood hazard maps and 152 flood risk maps, as well as 93 depth and velocity maps.

“Flood hazard and flood risk maps are an essential tool that will help us, to a great extent, in the process of drafting the necessary acts”, explains Milan Gavrić, Assistant Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management of the Republika Srpska region of Bosnia and Herzegovina. “It will also help us in providing data about specific areas prior to the preparation of relevant acts, as well as in developing further procedures aimed at protection of the population and property”, says Milan.

Adapting to climate change

To date, the EIB has invested €242 million in Bosnia and Herzegovina’s water sector, creating better sanitation conditions, more secure flood protection measures, and access to drinking water for people across the country.

“The creation of a more reliable, modern and long-term flood management system does not only help us protect the public health, environmental and cultural heritage, but it creates more resilient communities and new business opportunities thanks to more stable conditions for investors,” says EIB Vice-President Lilyana Pavlova, responsible for the Western Balkans. “As the EU climate bank, we are also glad to be able to support BiH in mitigating and adapting to climate change more efficiently.”

"Due to the negative effects of climate change, natural disasters like these have become more frequent and will continue to cause severe damage to agriculture, housing and industrial areas in the future”, says Sandrine Friscia, the EIB’s representative to Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro. “This is why the European Union has deployed all of its capacities to help Bosnia and Herzegovina prepare and implement immediate flood protection measures, as well as to build reliable infrastructure that will provide long-term stability for the country’s people and economy", she says.