Zvijezda mountain has always been an area of exceptional landscape beauty, natural resources, and high air quality. Therefore, it is known as an attractive area that people inhabited and used since ancient times. Due to its rich biodiversity, Zvijezda mountain draws the attention of numerous researchers, especially ornithologists.

This area has already aroused the curiosity of our team, and during 2019 we conducted pioneer research about endangered and vulnerable owl species that inhabit Zvijezda mountain. The main goal of mentioned research was to observe endangered and vulnerable species of boreal and forest owls in the Vareš area, including Eurasian Pygmy-Owl, Boreal Owl, Ural Owl, and Tawny Owl. Owl nesting boxes placed around Semizova Ponikva – Vranjkovci, mountain Zvijezda and the upper stream of Tribija river represent the first and only study area for active protection and long-term monitoring of owl population in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Results of provided research have indicated that conservation measures need to be strengthened to preserve valuable and rare species of the area.

CENER21 decided to continue with research ideas and together with the support of the Environmental Protection Fund of the Federation BiH we started the implementation of a new project titled “Valorization of Zvijezda mountain ornithological values for the nomination for the IBA site”. Since the very beginning of the project, CENER21 achieved fruitful cooperation with the Ornithological Society “Naše ptice”.

The main goal of the project is to explore the Zvijezda mountain ornithofauna, considering the criteria for declaring the IBA mountain area. The realization of the project contributes to the inventory and popularization of the preliminary significant ornithofauna of the project area and vulnerable bird species.

Within the Project, CENER 21 will implement the following activities:

  • development of the Plan for research and selection of criteria for mountain areas in BiH, to declare IBA (Important Bird and Biodiversity Area) mountain area in BiH
  • conducting an inventory of the ornithofauna of the Zvijezda mountain to determine the ornithofauna richness of the project area, regarding the species determined as IBA criteria (IBA)
  • habitat mapping of species selected for IBA declaration criteria
  • development of the Plan for the nomination of Mountain Zvijezda for the IBA site
  • nomination of the mountain Zvijezda to be declared as Important Bird and Biodiversity Area.

The project is funded by the Environmental Protection Fund of the Federation BiH, through the Public Call for environmental non-profit organizations in the Federation of BiH.

 

 Project details:

Name of the institution: Center for Energy, Environment and Resources

Contact: Emina Zečić

E-mail address: emina.zecic@cener21.ba

Total project budget: 60.000,00 BAM

Environmental Protection Fund of the Federation BiH: 50.000,00 BAM

CENER 21: 10.000,00 BAM

Start date: 14-04-2021

End date: 14-04-2022