Center for Research and Studies GEA successfully ended the realization of the “Increasing employment through the creation of environmental jobs biodiversity conservation” project.
The project, funded by the EU, was aimed at contributing to natural environment protection and the sustainable exploitation of natural resources in B&H, simultaneously creating new alternative workplaces.

The project was lead by the Center for Research and Studies GEA in partnership with the Regional Environmental Center in Bosnia and Herzegovina (REC BiH).

Project timeframe was January 2011 – June 2012.

Two publications were created within the project (local language only):

• Study: Conservation of biodiversity in B&H through opening environmental jobs in agriculture and forestry
• Guide for the cultivation of medicinal and aromatic plants

In April 2012, two workshops on the sustainable cultivation of medicinal and aromatic plants were held in the municipalities of Bosanski Petrovac and Trebinje. During the workshops, interested participants were provided with free seeds and the first experimental plots of land were seeded as well. Also, memorandums of cooperation were signed with two local companies that buy off medicinal and aromatic plants, as a means of support to local farmers in the sustainable cultivation of these plants.

Final project activity was the organization of a round table on potentials for the creation of “green jobs” in agriculture and forestry in B&H, as well as the distribution of publications derived from the project and round table recommendations. The round table was attended by key actors from the area of biodiversity protection and promotion of “green” employment within the two sectors.