UNCCD 2nd Scientific Conference

1. Land use changes and loss of soil in
Bosnia and Herzegovina
as consequences of the war and socio-economic transition
Hamid Čustović, Melisa Ljuša, Mihajlo Marković

2. General information about BiH
51.209,2 km²
sea 12,2 km²
land 51.197 km²
Area plains 5%
hills 25%
mountains 42%
karst 29%
Federation of BiH,
Administrative
Republic of Srpska,
organization
Brcko District of BiH
Capital Sarajevo
Population >4 million
Total war damages in BiH - over 240 billion USD
200,000 people out of a total of 4.4 million citizens were war victims
2.2 million were displaced from their place of residence

3. Land use changes and loss of soil
CORINE land cover 2006 Bijeljina
Refugee settlement in Bijeljina
CLC 2006 Non-irrigated arable land Discontinuous urban
CORINE land cover - I level Image from 1998 Image from 2005
0,83%
0,10% 1,49%
36,51%
61,06%
Artificial surfaces Agriculture
Semi-natural areas Wetlands
Water

4. Land use changes and loss of soil
Agricultural land cover/use classes changes - CLC III level
•Changes of agricultural land: 14,428.84 ha. 100%
90%
•8,749.97 ha have transitioned into the artificial 80%
areas.
70%
60%
•5,965.65 ha have transitioned into discontinuous
urban (112 class). 50%
40%
•1,540 ha have transitioned into into semi-natural 30%
areas group, 272 ha into water surface group.
20%
•7,572 ha of agricultural land have been 10%
converted from one category into the other, e.g. 0%
pastures into complex cultivation patterns (2,319 211 212 221 222 231 242 243
ha). CLC kod
112 121 124 131 132 133 311 313 321 324 331 511 512
CLC Nomenclature
211 Non-irrigated arable land 112 Discontinuous urban
212 Irrigated arable land 121 Industry, commercial
221 Vineyards 124 Aiport
222 Fruit trees and berry plantations 131 Mineral extraction sites
231 Pastures 132 Dump sites
242 Complex cultivation patterns 133 Construction sites
243 Land occupied by agriculture with significant natural 311 Broad-leaved forest
areas 313 Mixed forest
321 Natural grassland
324 Transitional woodland to shrub
331 Beaches, dunes, sand plains
511 Water courses
512 Water bodies

5. Challenges in land management
•Three separate systems of land administration operating in Bosnia and Herzegovina,
•The existing maps and data are no longer up-to-date and a major part of development that
took place in the past 20 years is not recorded or entered into any registers,
Canton Sarajevo – Novi Grad Municipality
New settlement actual status
Agricultural land cadastral data
Agricultural land (actual status )
Agricultural land (cadastral data)

6. Challenges in land management
•Land has never been valuated by the criteria applied in market economy and this is a reason
why there is a common misconception that land is a cheap resource,
•The process of returning land and real estate to their rightful owners is ongoing,
•Regulations on restitution have not been passed,
•The unreliable public registers and problems associated with the registration of transactions
have negative impact on the marketing and development of real estate market,
•The sales of agricultural land is very often conducted with the aim of subsequent change of use
into construction land,
•Movement of the population, especially in the context of their relocation from one part of the
territory (entity) to another, supported by strong political lobbying, had a huge impact on the
formation of prices of land and real-estate in general.
...transition process...

7. Challenges in land management
...high fragmentation of farms, lack of systematized data on demand and supply, depopulation of rural areas and great
number of displaced persons, inappropriate protection of the top quality land, insufficient transparent procedures of
changing the original purpose of the land transforming it into the construction land...

8. Situation in Sarajevo Canton
•Canton Sarajevo territory size 1,268 km2, with population of 438,757,
•Annual loss of land is around 500-700 ha,
•Prices of agricultural land ranging from 2.5 to 25 Eur/m2 – price rises as much as by 50 times
if its use is changed into construction land!
Potential mine fields
Landslides
Afforestation
Municipality Trnovo Land destruction
2001 2004 2006

9. Conclusions
•Major cause of the changes in land use is a large scale migration of the population within the
country, which contributed to an intensified urbanization as well as the appearance of abandoned
land;
•The existing sources of information are not up-to-date, they are uncoordinated and often
irrelevant;
•There is no official information on permanent losses in agricultural land, no monitoring system;
•Establishment of an efficient cadastre is essential and harmonized land policy in the country;
•CORINE database may be considered a unique, relevant source of information on land cover at
the level of BiH;
•Preparation of databases on use value of land at local level which could be used as a basis for any
kinds of planning at municipal level is essential;
•Capacity building of all stakeholders and raising awareness about significance of agricultural land
is crucial.

10. Thank you!