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COUNTRY OVERVIEW
Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) is a lower middle-income country located in the Western Balkans of Central Europe. The country has a total surface area of 51,209 square kilometers (km), which is comprised of 51,197 km² of land and 12.2 km² of sea. BiH shares boarders with Croatia (931 km), Serbia (375 km) and Montenegro (249 km) and a coastline along the Adriatic Sea (25.5 km). Its location on the Balkan Peninsula places it within the Adriatic and Black sea basins. The country’s topography is largely hilly to mountainous with an average altitude of 500 meters (m) and a maximum altitude of 2,400 m. The country’s land areas is made up of 5% lowlands, 24% hills, 42% mountains, and 29% karstic regions (soluble rocks such as limestone, dolomite, gypsum, characterized by underground drainage and sinkholes). BiH also has a large network of transboundary rivers, including tributaries of Drina, Neretva, Una, Korana and Glina, and rivers on its territorial boarders such as the Sava, Una and Drina.
BiH has a population 3.3 million people (2020), but with a declining annual population growth rate of −0.6% (Table 1). BiH has experienced steady population decline since the mid-2000s due to previous conflicts, and migration. The population is expected to reach 3.1 million and 2.6 million by 2030 and 2050, respectively. The country had a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of US$19.8 billion in 2020, with an annual growth rate of −4.3%%. The country is dominated by industry (including mining, construction, electricity, water, and gas) which contributes 23.2% to GDP, agriculture (6.4%) and the export (35.4%) and import (52.3%) sectors. As of 2019, the unemployment rate fell slightly to 18.4%, though BiH continues to have one of the highest youth unemployment rates in the world. While Bosnia and Herzegovina is a sovereign state with a decentralized political and administrative structure, it is comprised of two entities: the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republika Srpska; and the Brcˇko District. According to the Constitution of BiH, all matters of environmental and water management are assigned to the level of the entities. All strategies are also prepared at this level and then harmonized or combined and presented through the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations of BiH as the strategies of the country.
The ND-GAIN Index8 ranks 181 countries using a score which calculates a country’s vulnerability to climate change and other global challenges as well as their readiness to improve resilience. This Index aims to help businesses and the public sector better identify vulnerability and readiness in order to better prioritize investment for more efficient responses to global challenges. Due to a combination of political, geographic, and social factors, Bosnia and Herzegovina is recognized as vulnerable to climate change impacts, ranked 79 out of 181 countries in the 2020 ND-GAIN Index. The more vulnerable a country is the lower their score, while the more ready a country is to improve its resilience the higher it will be. Norway has the highest score and is ranked 1st. Figure 1 is a time-series plot of the ND-GAIN Index showing Bosnia and Herzegovina’s progress.
BiH submitted its Nationally-Determined Contribution (NDC) to the UNFCCC in 2016 in support of its commitment to the Paris Agreement and submitted its Updated NDC in April, 2021. BiH also submitted its Third National Communication (NC3) and Second Biennial Update Report on Green House Gas (GHG) Emissions in 2016. Identified adaptation priorities focus on agriculture, hydrology and water resources, energy, transportation, health, forests and biodiversity, and tourism. Adaptation plans in Bosnia and Herzegovina center primarily on coping with drought and flooding. Measures under consideration include modifications in crop rotation patterns, the application of new technologies to improve soils, the installation of windbreaks, and the establishment of a drought early warning system. The country is committed to reducing its GHG emissions even as current BiH GHG emissions represent less than 0.1% of global total emissions.12