News

EnviroDay at Sarajevo Film Festival

For the second year in a row UNEP and SFF, together with a number of partners, are joining forces to dedicate one day of the Festival’s program to the environment in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). This day is known as EnviroDay, set to take place on the 17th of August, to voice the issues of poor air quality and the impact of climate change in BIH.

The motto of this year’s EnviroDay is U zdravom tijelu zdrav vazduh (a variation of the proverb Mens Sana in Corpore Sano: Healthy air in healthy body).

EnviroDay 2016 will encompass several events:

I. Film screening of a documentary on the challenges of global climate change
“This Changes Everything” (inspired by Naomi Klein's international non-fiction bestseller) at Cinema City at 12.00h
II. Panel discussion on environment in BiH, with an emphasis on air quality and climate change

Festival’s Square at 14.00h

Public event – EnviroDay Fair

The fair will gather a number of partners in showcasing “green solutions” to the public, including demonstration of an air quality monitoring stations, slowest bike ride competition, art workshop for children and youth etc.Ars Aevi space next to Wilson’s Lane starting from 16.00h

As the voice for the environment in the United Nations system, UNEP has a history of focusing on environmental issues that both have a local and an international dimension (e.g. the role of cities in climate change and improving air quality). In cooperation with partners, UNEP supports governments to address key urban environmental issues at the national, regional and global levels and has extensively worked in BiH both to improve air quality monitoring and reduce air pollution through improving district heating systems in the country’s biggest urban areas.

According to the World Health Organization, BiH is losing 21.5% of its GDP (US$ 7,228 millions) annually due to heavy air pollution. The outdoor and household air pollution is one of the leading global risk factors for a wide range of diseases, and contemporary research shows that the number of deaths tied to air pollution will continue to rise in the coming decades barring tougher efforts to slow emissions that harm human health. The European Environment Agency in its report for 2015 estimated that over 44,000 years of life are lost in BiH each year due to air pollution. The main sources of poor air quality and high greenhouse gas emissions in the capital Sarajevo are individual household stoves and local heating that use coal, wood charcoal, heavy fuel oil, then traffic, high heat losses in residential sector, industrial energy of high intensity, and inappropriate treatment of the issue of air pollution in the process of developing and implementing local spatial and urban plans.

The mission of EnviroDay this year is to inform and empower citizens to take effective action in improving air quality by tackling the main causes of air pollution, and mobilize national interest towards meaningful policy responses to reduce air pollution.

For more information, please kindly contact:
UNEP Office in Sarajevo, info@unep.ba, (+387-33) 293-597