The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) loan of €65m provided to the state-owned company Roads of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina has helped in developing roads more resilient to floods and other extreme weather events.

Bosnia and Herzegovina experienced the worst floods in May 2014, which damaged country’s roads and infrastructure, and posed a real threat to the economy, as the majority of passenger and cargo transport takes place on roads.

The loan, provided by EBRD from its Central European Initiative, was used towards the repair of the road infrastructure and upgrade of important primary sections.

Before carrying out the project, experts have examined climate conditions over the last few decades.

Based on United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)’s emission scenarios, the experts made climate projections for Bosnia-Herzegovina using two climate models, SINTEX-G and ECHAM5.

"The loan, provided by EBRD from its Central European Initiative, was used towards the repair of the road infrastructure and upgrade of important primary sections."

The experts predicted that there will be rise in temperature, which could lead to heat waves and droughts, a decline in annual precipitation rates, and the probability of extreme rainfall events is likely to increase.

With the support of Swedish Road Agency experts, EBRD will help Bosnia and Herzegovina in establishing an institutional framework as well as implement best practice on identifying and managing climate risks to the country’s road network.

Most of the countries in the Western Balkans are facing a similar situation due to climate change, EBRD is planning to extend its support to other countries by assessing the vulnerabilities of their road networks and identifying investments that could alleviate the associated risks.

Image: A road in the Bosnia and Herzegovina road network. Photo: courtesy of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.