The Foundation for the Reconstruction and Development of the Vareš Region activated the idea of protecting the nature of the Zvijezda Mountain, which had been initiated a long time ago.
By declaring the Zvijezda mountain protected area, the municipality will have the first protected nature area that will encourage reconstruction and development, raise the standard of the residents of Vareš to a higher level, which was devastated in the last war and impoverished by poor privatization and the shutdown of industrial and mining companies, two mines and an iron factory.
The president of the Foundation for the Reconstruction and Development of the Vareš Region, Mladen Rudež, said that since 2017, the Municipality of Vareš has prepared all the documents prescribed by law and initiated the initiative to declare part of the Zvijezda mountain area a protected nature area, for the competent action of the cantonal Ministry for Spatial Planning. traffic and communications and environmental protection.
“The implementation of the protection procedure aims at the institutional valorization of the protection of highly valuable areas of nature, biological diversity and natural habitats of many plant and animal species, which the Zvijezde mountain area is rich in,” said Rudež.
He also added that one of the goals is to protect and preserve all existing complementary values of cultural and historical sites in the narrower and wider area: numerous stećaks, old water-powered iron smelting and forging fields, toponyms and legends from Slavic mythology, folklore and customs, objects and costumes of that area and others.
He claims that the entire local community will be included in the benefits of the protected nature area and that locality will become one of the important driving forces for the future sustainable development of the rural area of Vareš municipality, which is currently in great material and personnel difficulties.
“It will help to stop the emigration of young people, the return of evicted residents will stimulate the new development of the municipality based on new principles of environmental and nature protection, the development of rural tourism and rural areas with all the prerequisites of beautiful nature, organic food and a rich gastronomic offer of local food, forest fruits – strawberries, blueberries , medicinal herbs, mushrooms and the like, as well as local specialties,” he pointed out.
Protecting the nature of this area, he added, protects the great forest wealth from illegal logging and increases their role as carbon and CO2 absorbers.
“Protecting forests also protects the wealth of water in that area, which is used except in Vareš and in several neighboring municipalities. In addition, it contributes to the sustainable development of the rural area and the municipality as a whole, but it also contributes to mitigating climate change, not only locally but also globally,” he emphasized.
Rudež said that by adopting the law on the protected nature area of the Zvijezda mountain, the municipality of Vareš as a local community encourages and concretely contributes to the realization of one of the most important conclusions of the Study, which is the establishment of a public company or administration for the protected areas of the Zenica-Doboj Canton that will institutionally implement protection and manage the protected nature area in the canton in an organized manner.
“Also, in this way local population from rural and urban areas of municipalities, including the municipality of Vareš, will be employed. This will contribute to the opening of green jobs and businesses that will directly place the local community in the circle of municipalities in BiH that work on sustainable development of the municipality and fulfill the obligations of BiH from the Sofia Declaration and the Green Agenda for the Balkans, thus making a great contribution to the development of the green economy and mitigating climate change. change in BiH and the region,” he explained.
Rudež pointed out that the area of Mount Zvijezda has always been an area of exceptional beauty of nature, landscape and natural resources: forests, water, flora and fauna, high quality air from a health point of view, but also an area that people have inhabited and used for their well-being since ancient times.
“In the area of the Zvijezda spatial unit, elements of both natural and cultural-historical heritage are equally represented, giving it a high ambient and landscape value,” he said.
Rudež said that in the area of Mount Zvijezda there are five nature monuments according to the old categorization of protected areas, protected trees (Giant lime trees in Ivančevo – Tilia grandifolia L.) whose age is estimated at 350 years, then a protected peat area on Mount Zvijezda the size of 10 ha, Ponikva Cave, as a geomorphological, hydrological, archaeological and speleological valuable locality, the source of the river Stavnja and the waterfall on the river Oćevijci.
“In the area of Mount Zvijezda, there are several stećak necropolis formations in the localities of Vidak and Studenac, then a multitude of geomorphological forms of potholes, caves, canyons, as well as valuable localities of cultural and historical heritage, Očevij maidans – water-powered forges with the site of natural waterfalls, and hydro – the thermal spring of Oćevijca, as well as the spring in the water protection zone from which water is supplied to the urban area of Vareš,” said Rudež in an interview for Fena.
The area of Zvijezda is very rich in exceptional air quality for the development of health tourism – the area of Ponikva and many others waterways, Očevijca, Vijačica, Orlje and many streams.
On the occasion of the protection of the Zvijezda mountain, the foundation will also organize a public discussion in Vareš on March 31 under the title “Development opportunity of the municipality of Vareš”.
