INTRODUCTION
Land degradation is a global concern and a major threat to the livelihoods and well being of people across the globe (Rodrigo-Comino and Cerdà, 2017, Ferreira et al., 2018, Scholes et al., 2018, Willemen et al., 2020). The European Environment Agency (EEA) and the Joint Research Center (JRC) of the European Commission have published numerous papers and reports describing soil degradation problems in Europe (EEA, 2000; 2003). In post conflict countries, however, soil and land degradation data are often missing due to a lack of historical data, as in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIH) which often appears on European soil maps as an area without data. In fact, in BIH one of the most significant impacts of the Civil War, recorded between 1992 and 1995, was the destruction of historical land data, including land records. Even 25 years after the conflict, land data availability is still scarce, and represents one of the major challenges to assess land degradation status and implement environmental policy frameworks (Kapović Solomun, 2018; Tošić et. al., 2019). Policy and legal frameworks of BIH recognize the importance of land, but significant barriers still exist for the effective implementation of policies (Marković and Brujić, 2017).
Conflicts often have an underlying land dimension (Guterras, 2009; Putzel, 2009), thus how post-conflict societies address land issues is a critically component of post-conflict reconstruction (Betge 2019). The overarching challenges regarding land degradation drivers and impacts are exacerbated by the post conflict political environment, which may have weakened institutions and policy frameworks. Unsatisfactory levels of communication among governmental institutions, and political infighting are usually prioritized over environmental problems. Thus, addressing land issues immediately after conflict and during the subsequent years is very complex and multifaceted (Leckie, 2000).
In BIH, the Civil War was an important factor influencing current land administration structure. Due to decentralization of BIH, each one of the three administrative units (Republic of Srpska entity (RS), Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina entity (FBIH) and Brčko District (BD) has their own land administration and jurisdictions on land, except those regarding state level. Due to post conflict weak political communication between entities, land administrations are not synchronized and cooperation among them is not sufficient. Nevertheless, even given the complexity of the post-conflict environment in BIH, the country has significant commitments to reduce land degradation. BIH ratified the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) in 2002, recognizing the importance of land degradation and commitment for the implementation of the Convention. In 2014, BIH voluntarily committed to the Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) Target Setting Process. Between 2016 and 2018, LDN was implemented separately by each administrative unit across BIH, contrary to other countries which conducted the LDN target setting process at the national level. Sustainable soil management emerged from LDN traget setting process as an issue of utmost importance for BIH (Kapović Solomun et al., 2018; Čustović and Ljuša, 2018), wich aligns with the United Nations and EU priorities that underline soil protection as a key land-use policy issue (Keesstra et al., 2016a; Cowie et al., 2018, Metternicht et al., 2019). Well-designed and implemented policies are a prerequisite for sustainable land management in every natural ecosystem (Muñoz-Rojas et al., 2015).
Besides the political context, additional current and emerging issues regarding land degradation in BIH are associated with migration, during and immediately after the conflict. BIH is located along the migration route to Western Europe from southern Asia and the Middle East, which has contributed to significant migration from outside the country. Many areas of abandoned land are now observed, particularly in rural regions, and sometimes land is not available to farmers because of property right issues. In fact, conflicts regarding land property rights between entities and among refugees from other entities represent the main impact of the war in BIH. Additionally, in post conflict period, land mines and associated contamination cover approximately 2.1% of BIH territory, as a direct consequence of war (Report, 2018).
The current complex political and administrative structure of BIH, together with land tenure issues and land mines represent common challenges to post-conflict societies (Todorovski et al., 2012; Unruh and Wiliams, 2013), namely regarding the implementation of environmental policy frameworks and mitigation of land degradation. This paper aims to (i) assess the policy framework related to land degradation, (ii) investigate the stakeholders’ perception on land and their attitude regarding existent legislative and strategic frameworks related to land degradation; (iii) report on the state of the land and examine soil erosion as a key driver of land degradation. This study focuses on BIH case study, and first reviews its policy and institutional framework on land, and then reports the results from a field survey comparing the perceptions of land degradation of three different groups of stakeholders: decision makers, land owners/users and non-government sector. The study also reports on pre- and post-conflict soil erosion within the Republic of Srpska. The BIH case study may be relevant for other post-conflict societies, and raises concerns about land degradation mitigation in post-conflict environments.
METHODOLOGY
The medology used to investigate BIH case study is focused on i) assessment of the policy framework, ii) investigation of stakeholder perceptions, and iii) survey of soil erosion.