How one of the most beautiful lakes in Bosnia and Herzegovina was destroyed

Prokoško Lake is one of the most beautiful in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is threatened with disappearance due to massive illegal construction that should not be allowed in a nature monument. Local authorities are announcing the legalization of illegally built structures, reports DW.

Summer is at its peak, and the sun relentlessly heats the shores of Prokoško Lake, where many wooden cabins are scattered, rising beneath several mountain peaks of Vranica, towering over two thousand meters high. The lake is of glacial origin and is located at an altitude of 1,636 meters. A group of tourists on the shore is preparing lunch in an express pot, the hissing sound of steam overlapping with the noise of visitors, as well as the sounds of off-road vehicles and motorcycles continuously buzzing on the mountain, raising dust with unbearable noise. From the buildings around the lake, sounds of turbo folk music echo from three or four sources, creating an irritating mix of noises.

Dozens of pipes are driven into the water sources, and water is redirected into gardens and buildings constructed around the lake, instead of nourishing the lake naturally. Consequently, the lake and surrounding streams are fed with wastewater and sewage from the buildings. In recent years, there has been a boom in tourism at Prokoško Lake, but illegal construction is also flourishing. Although Prokoško Lake was declared a nature monument in 2005, where any construction of buildings is prohibited, this has not stopped individuals from building weekend homes, restaurants, or apartments that they rent to tourists. Drone footage clearly illustrates the extent of the devastation in the area. We counted over 350 constructed buildings, all of which are illegal.

“None of these structures have permission to be built, and of course, construction cannot occur in a protected area. This is a huge pressure on a small, very valuable ecosystem of Prokoško Lake,” says Professor Samir Đug from the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics in Sarajevo, who participated in the study that led to Prokoško Lake being declared a nature monument.

Who Cares About Illegal Construction?

Residents are aware that they have illegally built structures, but they exploit the negligence of the authorities, trying to earn some money in one of the poorest countries in Europe, which has recorded a significant increase in the number of tourists in recent years.

“No one here has clear ownership of a building or parcel, and if the state decided, it could demolish all this tomorrow,” says Nihad while carefully watching a small flock of sheep, whose fate has long been sealed, and they will all end up on the spit.

“Arabs buy lambs the most. They are the most frequent guests here, and our people are becoming fewer. The people have no money even for food, and everything has become more expensive, including fuel, so fewer are coming,” explains Nihad, but he doesn’t complain as long as there are foreign tourists with slightly deeper pockets.

“I come from Dubai, this is my first time in this area, and I really like it. I intend to come back here with my whole family,” says Beder, who spent the day at the lake. Two more off-road vehicles arrive via a dusty gravel road with a group of tourists. The driver hasn’t even properly exited when the owner of a hospitality facility greets him, hoping to make some deal and earn something: “Do you want me to roast some meat for them? There are also pies.” Multilingual signs are everywhere. Accommodation is offered, pies under the lid, roasting, teas…

Prokoško Lake is located on the Vranica Mountain, at an altitude of 1,660 meters, and is 22 kilometers away from the central Bosnian town of Fojnica. Although the area is protected and was declared a nature monument in 2005, this has not stopped individuals from illegally building structures on its shores. Once, this area was exclusively pastoral, with thousands of sheep and cows grazing in the pastures and only a few shepherd’s huts used by herders during the summer.

With the arrival of cold weather, they would descend to lower regions. Of course, hikers would also come, nostalgically recalling the natural beauty of this area before a whole settlement was built, and the lake brought to the brink of destruction. “Only shepherds with their flocks and hikers enjoying nature walked that part of the mountain. The shepherds would treat hikers to milk, cheese, and cream, and offer hospitality in the summer huts. The nature was clean and untouched because both groups loved and preserved it. My next visit to this area was after 2000. What I found was a catastrophe for nature. Around the lake, which has become a dead marsh full of feces, there were about a hundred clumsily built huts,” recalls mountaineer Dušan Vrzić from Sarajevo, remembering his visits from 1977 and more recent times.

Illegal but Profitable

For years, buildings have been illegally constructed in the area of the protected nature monument. Everyone occupies and fences off parcels as they wish. ATVs and off-road vehicles are driven off the trails, which is prohibited by law and punishable. But no one is punished. One resident proudly boasts how he illegally cut a path so that off-road and other vehicles can travel through areas they couldn’t before.

Once, a triton, an indigenous amphibian, lived in Prokoško Lake. However, the local population introduced trout into the lake, which prey on this amphibian, so experts believe it may no longer exist in the lake. There are no tritons, but there is trash. A group of divers pulled out 200 kilograms of plastic, glass, and other waste from the lake in just one day this summer. Due to the discharge of sewage and wastewater into the lake, the process of developing marsh vegetation is intensifying, which has negative consequences and results in accelerated swamp formation and the disappearance of the lake itself. “Unfortunately, more experts have stated that Prokoško Lake is dead or on the brink of death. There is no reason not to believe them. Unfortunately, we have not managed to protect this pearl of nature,” says Robert Oroz from the Coalition for the Protection of Rivers in Bosnia and Herzegovina, who is from Fojnica and knows this area very well.

Off-road Vehicles on Pastures Instead of Sheep

Here, while tending sheep, Fatima spent her childhood, fondly recalling the songs they sang, hard-working people, and a better life. “The youth today won’t stay, they go abroad. They’ve gone to foreign countries, and that’s why there are no animals. We used to make cheese and butter here, and we would lower it in baskets on horses. People lived to be 100 or 115 years old, but today they die at 45. They lived healthily and ate healthily,” says the seventy-eight-year-old woman, who seems very composed and agile, and would append verses from songs she sang as a girl to every response. “I keep sheep down by the pasture, look dear and come to me. If you don’t know where I keep sheep, just listen for the bell on the sheep.” When she realized that there was less and less space for sheep herding, she began cultivating land and renting accommodation to tourists. Her neighbor Ibrahim is a bit more persistent. He also refuses to give up sheep herding and is one of the last three shepherds at Prokoško Lake. “This is a hard job, but you can earn from it. If you sell 100 lambs, that’s 10,000 marks, and try to earn that in a company,” says Ibrahim Bureković.

Legalization of the Illegal

It is a disappointing fact that local authorities see nothing wrong with illegal construction, which has brought Prokoško Lake to the brink of survival. Instead of protecting nature, which should be their job, the authorities become accomplices in the devastation of natural resources. The cantonal minister of spatial planning, construction, environmental protection, return, and housing affairs, Amir Šećibović (SDA), stated to the media that there will be no demolition of structures and that their legalization will follow. Due to the evident devastation of the environment around the lake, the future status of the lake and its surroundings as a nature monument has also been questioned.

“If a new study or assessment were to be conducted showing that there has been new degradation of the area and that it is not easy to start restoring it to a natural state, then the status of that protected area can certainly be called into question,” believes Professor Đug. Experts believe that the protection and preservation of nature should be a priority at all levels, as it could be one of the drivers of development in Bosnia and Herzegovina. “We do not know how to make cars and computers, but we have something that no one can make. We have exceptional natural resources and values, but all we know how to do is destroy them. Unfortunately! Here, Prokoško Lake is the best example of that,” concludes Professor Đug, reminding us that there are many bright examples worldwide of how humans and nature can live together and thrive economically, but unfortunately not in Bosnia.