Residents of 20 settlements from three local communities in Foca, in the southeast of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), are protesting against the municipality’s plans to open a garbage dump near natural attractions and protected areas.
The new landfill is planned on the territory of the local community of Kozja Luka, where there are caves, sources of drinking water, and the natural phenomenon of a sand pyramid, of which there are only four in the world.
“Instead of us developing it further now, of tying it up so that tourism is here, that it is crowded, we now want to destroy it with one landfill. It’s a shame,” says Mitar Cuskic, a member of the Kozja Luka Local Community Council.
A garbage dump near caves, natural sand pyramids older than two centuries, archaeological sites, could, according to the locals, pollute the source of drinking water.
“Approximately 20 villages are threatened here. The biggest place that would be endangered is Miljevina,” explained Mitar Cuskic.
“This is a crumbly terrain, a porous terrain, there are many caves, many sinkholes, and there are no geological conditions for the disposal of chemically polluted waste,” says Vukan Stankovic, village of Donji Budanj.
The mayor of this municipality says that he will not support any solution that will endanger the population in that area, as well as natural resources, but he emphasizes that the landfill is necessary.
At the same time, the municipality is leading the process of declaring the caves and sand pyramids, one of four of this type in the world, a nature park, Slobodna Evropa reports.
E.Dz.
