In May 2014, catastrophic floods hit Bosnia and Herzegovina, resulting in several dozens of casualties and causing the destruction of public and private infrastructures, as well as hitting hundreds of thousands of households, leaving many of them, mostly vulnerable groups, without proper shelter.
In order to establish an integrated water management system in the country that will ensure the reduction of (potential) flood-related damage to human health, environment, cultural heritage and economic activity in the entire country, Bosnia and Herzegovina's authorities have sought financial support from the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Union.
WBIF allocated the first TA grant in December 2014 to finance the preparation of flood hazard and flood risk maps for areas of potentially significant flood risk, and support the Project Management Unit (PMU) in the project implementation.
In June 2018, WBIF extended its support by approving additional grant funding in the amount of €1.8 million that allowed a further 3,000 km2 to be surveyed.
To manage this large task efficiently, the work was divided into four sub-zones corresponding to the main river catchments in BiH, and separate hydraulic modelling, flood hazard mapping, exposure data, and flood risk mapping reports were prepared for each sub-zone:
Flood mapping was a necessary step to identify priority investments to manage the risks and reduce the damages of floods, thus contributing to adaptation to climate change in BiH.
