More than a field: Livanjsko Polje, Bosnia-Herzegovina

Polje, a local word meaning field, is a distinctive karst feature. Poljes are large flat limestone depressions, sometimes filled with fertile sedimentary deposits and often waterlogged in wet seasons. At approximately 40,000 hectares, with a regularly flooded surface area of approximately 20,000 hectares, Livanjsko Polje near Livno in Bosnia-Herzegovina could be the largest karst polje in the world.

A valuable wetland and important bird area, it combines marshes and peat bogs with extensive grasslands. Agricultural areas edge its southern border; temperate forests spread out to the north.

Under threat from unplanned conversion
Natural grasslands are important and productive vegetation communities. Unfortunately, this high natural biodiversity is sacrificed when large mechanised farming operations turn grasslands into monocultures of commercial crops or when traditional agriculture is abandoned and the grasslands are replaced by encroaching forests. As a result of these practices, grassland habitats are progressively disappearing in Europe.

At Livanjsko Polje, however, traditional agriculture - notably, keeping cattle and sheep and producing flavoursome Livno cheese from their milk - has been compatible with maintaining the polje's variety of unique habitats. Populations of rare and endangered species survive, including the corncrake, Montagu's harrier, lesser spotted eagle, redshank, snipe and great bittern.

Already in the seventies and again in the 1992-96 conflicts, many farming families left their villages and have not returned to continue their traditional practices, particularly the extensive livestock grazing which maintained natural grassland ecosystems. The Livanjsko Polje is still one of the best-preserved poljes of BiH, but projects are under consideration which involve draining the Zdralovac, virgin mosaic of marsh and wet medows, and large scale lignite excavation. These proposals could have a devastating effect on the polje's complex hydrology and productive grasslands.

Trying to revive traditional farming practices
In conjunction with local and international groups, WWF is working on a large scale to maintain the valuable Livansko Polje wetlands by considering and addressing threats at a basin level. Developing sustainable agricultural projects that, like the traditional farming activities, are compatible with the polje's natural values and biodiversity, will help maintain them.

The polje's location, between Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, positions it well for transboundary cooperation, and as a demonstration site for programmes that could operate successfully in similar karst landscapes around the Mediterranean.