19 January 2016: The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has opened two air monitoring stations in Bosnia and Herzegovina and refurbished two existing ones. These steps will assist the country in: monitoring climate and air quality in line with national and EU law and prevent illnesses and deaths from outdoor pollution; ensuring accurate data is available to monitor climate change; alerting the public about pollution risk; and measuring the impact of policy measures to improve air quality.

The steps were announced at the country’s Parliamentary Assembly on 19 January 2015 at an event organized by UNEP and the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations.

A 2015 report by the European Environment Agency (EEA) estimated that over 44,000 years of life are lost in the country each year due to particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide or ozone pollution. According to UNEP, in 2014, air pollution caused over 3500 premature deaths in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which, in 2015, signed the ‘Stabilisation and Association Agreement’ with the EU.

UNEP reports that the two new monitoring stations are located in the cities of Prijedor and Gorazde. The restored stations are located in Ivan Sedlo and Banja Luka.

Jan Dusik, Director, UNEP’s Regional Office for Europe, noted that the launch of the new and restored stations offers “a real example of how human health and environment are intrinsically linked.” The move is part of a UNEP and Global Environment Facility (GEF) project worth US$1,438,000, to enhance data collection and reporting on the environment, specifically regarding the UN conventions related to climate change, biodiversity and desertification. The project, ‘Capacity development for the integration of global environment commitments into national policies and development decision-making in Bosnia and Herzegovina,’ was launched in November 2014. UNEP will provide training on the data collection and maintenance of equipment, and has produced an online database for countries to store and share the information. [UNEP Press Release] [Project Webpage on Real-time Monitoring of Climate and Air Quality] [Project Webpage on Capacity Development for the Integration of Global Environment Commitments into National Policies in Bosnia and Herzegovina]