Duration: April-September 2024.

After being part of the AgroParisTech collective training course in 2023 on the four main karst poljes of Canton 10 in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Livanjsko, Glamočko Kupreško, Duvanjsko), AIDA is back on this site!

The support will be methodological and analytical inside the Gingko research project financed by the (French) National Agency for Research (ANR) “Geographical indications as common knowledge. Reassessment of current models of regulation and collective action in the context of agroecological transitions ». Claire Bernard-Mongin (CIRAD) has chosen this Bosnian case for the project on our initiative, territory which houses a dynamic GI made visible by the work of the APT internship: the Livanjski Sir.

Aida, via Orianne Crouteix and François Lerin, offers to be a facilitator and to participate in the supervision of the 6-months internship for a pair of students from Institut Agro Montpellier (see the Master internship offer below), which will be associate a Bosnian student; to provide the Enquiry and landscape analysis data in its possession; to participate in the restitution of this survey to local and national Bosnian actors; as well as a reflection on the potential mechanisms for protecting these remarkable landscapes & morpho-pedological structures – and also the livestock breeding pastoral activities which in part, shape them.

The internship offer:

AIDA is taking part in a collective internship organised by AgroParisTech Montpellier as part of the specialised Master’s degree ‘Forest, Nature & Society’ . 16 French students, accompanied by four Bosnian students from the University of Sarajevo, had the task, during three weeks in the field (from 27 February to 17 March 2023), of drawing up a territorial-environmental diagnosis of the “poljes” (closed plains) of district 10 in southern BiH. They were also asked to make a suggestion on the most effective ‘label’ for protecting this hydrographic system of plains in a karstic region that make up a single watershed tiered from 1500 to 700 metres above sea level; and also to highlight possible elements of a management plan for the protection and development of this area.

This project is being carried out in partnership with a Bosnian NGO, the CZZS (Bosnian Centre for the Environment), and in particular its programme entitled “A sustainable future for the freshwater ecosystem of the Livansko polje in Bosnia & Herzegovina”. This programme is funded by the Donors’ Association for Freshwater Ecosystems and implemented jointly with the German grassroots environmental NGO EuroNatur.

Brief description of the internship (EN)

Internship report 2023 :

This collective course was preceded by similar experiences in the region:

• In Kosovo and Montenegro, on the development of geographical indications (June 2016) : Internship Kosovo and Montenegro (2016)

• In the Peljsac peninsula and the islands of Mljet and Korcula, diagnosis of High Natural Value (HNV) agriculture (March 2017) : Internship Croatia (2017)

Photo (banner) : Glamočko Polje (Bosnia & Herzegovina), 2023 / François Lerin.

On March 2, 2023, the French Association of Pastoralism (AFP) organized in Paris in the premises of the National Assembly the symposium “Pastoralism, a story of the future” on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the implementing decrees of the Pastoral Law in France.

Alice Garnier presented the recent work of the AIDA association on pastoral and land issues in Albania. The return to three pastoral areas (the Has, Rrungaja and Dukat massifs) made it possible to underline that under the apparent unity of the pastoral systems hides a great diversity of situations and dynamics, and varied land issues. It is also an opportunity to present courses of action resulting from European reflections and which could/should be discussed in Albania and throughout the Balkans.

Find the slideshow of the presentation below:

(Publication of the conference proceedings to come)

As part of the study entitled “Pastoral land in Albania: From the inherited mosaic to contemporary Mediterranean socio-environmental issues” financed by the AFD French Development Agency) (in partnership with the CTFD (Comité Technique Foncier et Développement), Orianne Crouteix (member of association AIDA) had the opportunity to carry out 6 weeks of fieldwork in Albania on three breeding territories previously worked by members of AIDA (Alice Garnier, Simon Gontard and Besmira Medolli): Mount Pasthiku and its plateau (Has), the Rrungaja (Korça) and Dukat massif and the Karaburun peninsula (Vlora).

The objective of this study is to analyze the land tenure systems of pastoral lands by identifying both the institutional management issues and the local logics of the use of fodder and pastoral resources. This research work assumes an entry through the commons to be understood in their diversity and constant evolution.

During the first field phase (from June 12 to July 5, 2021), a week was spent in each territory in order to carry out 37 semi-structured interviews with managers of forest and pastoral areas and livestock breeders. The second field phase (from October 27 to November 12) was an opportunity to carry out a day of restitution in each territory (Krumë in Has, Vithkuq in the foothills of Rrungaja and Orikum near Dukat) in order to discuss with the local actors of the various elements of the study and to refine the results. This second field period ended in Tirana with a presentation to national actors. See the article (sorry in French!): Albanie, journée d’échange sur le pastoralisme “Albania | Day of exchanges on pastoralism” on this same Website.

This research report is also available on the CTFD website: Le foncier pastoral en Albanie : de la mosaïque héritée aux enjeux sociaux-environnementaux méditerranéens contemporains – Étude de trois territoires ruraux : le Has, la Rrungaja (Korça) et Dukat-Karaburun (Vlora)

Photo (banner): Breeders in Dukat Fushë (Albania), 2016/ Alice Garnier

This article is the result of theEuropean H2020 HNV Link programme conceived in 2016 and coordinate (2016-2018) by François Lerin & Claire Bernard – who were working at the CIHEAM-IAM in Montpellier at the time.

More about HNV Link :

Photo (banner) : Flock of sheep under an olive grove in Epirus (Greece), 2021/ François Lerin.