7th BALKANMINE CONGRESS – Proceedings, Prijedor 2017

DOI: 10.7251/BMC170702273V

ECOLOGICAL CONSEQUENCES OF DEGRADATION OF LAND IN

THE FIELD OF THE CITY OF THE PRIJEDOR AND THE MEASURES
OF PROTECTION

Dušan VRANJEŠ1
1
Municipality of Prijedor,dusan.vranjes@prijedorgrad.org

ABSTRACT

The city of Prijedor has significant land areas and mineral resources deposits (iron ore, clay, gravel,
etc.). Тhese natural resources represents a significant precondition for the development of primary and
processing capacities in the field of exploitation of mineral resources, agriculture, and other forms of
economic activities. At the same time, the development of these activities poses a potential danger that
unplanned and uncontrolled land use, and failure to comply with the principles of sustainable
development, will significantly impede the environment in this area. The use and exploitation of land
in the area of the city of Prijedor has so far taken place to a significant extent without planned,
organized and systematic implementation of protection measures. One of the most significant forms of
land degradation is the unplanned and irrational exploitation of mineral resources without
implementing the program of remediation of degraded areas. Other forms of soil endangerment
through uncontrolled use of chemicals in agriculture, uncontrolled disposal of solid and hazardous
waste, and inadequate land management systems are also significantly present. These phenomena were
manifested through the appearance of significant degraded land surfaces after the exploitation of
mineral resources and the pollution of the soil through the accumulation of various pollutants leading
to significant ecological consequences. Since land represents an extremely important natural resource
and ecosystem base and natural values, it is necessary to establish an adequate and high quality
protection system. To this end it is necessary to fully respect the principles of sustainable development
through the conceptualized and planned development and use of the land, to implement the programs
of remediation of degraded areas in a timely manner, to establish control over the use of chemicals in
agriculture, as well as to conduct systematic soil monitoring in the area of Prijedor.

Key words: land, degradation, environment, protection measures

1. INTRODUCTION

Economic activities in the area of the Prijedor city are significantly based on the exploitation
of the mineral resources and agricultural production. These activities involve the use and
exploitation of the land that inevitably leads to endangering of this resource and the quality of
the environment. Mineral raw materials and their exploitation with no measures for
remediation of degraded areas, represent a significant ecological problem, since the
exploitation of these raw materials results in a disturbance of the balance of the environment.
Degradation and pollution of the soil are caused by other activities and primarily the use of

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chemicals in agriculture, uncontrolled disposal of solid and hazardous waste, discharge of

wastewater, etc.
The pollution of land is the process of introducing the various solid, liquid and gaseous
materials into the soil. This leads to their accumulation in the soil with significant changes in
its structure. When the accumulation crosses the critical boundary, there are their harmful
manifestations. Land degradation is mainly caused by heavy metals, pesticides, heterocyclic
hydrocarbons, etc.
For the successful implementation of the protection measures of land as a natural resource, it
is necessary to undertake a whole range of planned and organized measures, and to adopt and
implementation of the programs for remediation of degraded areas, controlled use of chemical
resources in agriculture, implementation of systematic monitoring of land and remediation of
the illegal landfills.

2. METHOD OF WORK

The results of this paper are based on the analysis of the existing state and potential
possibilities for degradation and soil pollution in the area of Prijedor. The analysis was carried
out on the basis of collecting and processing of data from development and urban planning
and spatial planning documents adopted in the area of Prijedor. In order to determine the
forms of degradation and soil pollution and their ranking, the empirical method of separation
was used. Within the framework of this analysis, interviewing was carried out of individuals
who are closely specialized in carrying out certain professional tasks in the field of
agriculture, environmental protection, spatial planning, etc. In order to that the results can to
be relevant the interviewing was focused on the representatives and managers of institutions
and enterprises in the field of agriculture and environmental protection as well as competent
inspection from these areas.

3. RESULTS

3.1. The basic characteristics of the land in the area of municipality Prijedor

The land is one of the basic resources and environments for the emergence and survival of life
in general and also provides a basis for the immediate development of the plant world, and
indirectly the animal world and human civilization.
The municipality of Prijedor has 83,406 ha of land, of which agricultural land covers an area
of 48,370 ha (57,99%), with 44,123 ha (52.9%) of arable agricultural land. Lands and gardens
as the most fertile land cover an area of 37,333 ha, while meadows, orchards and vineyards
cover an area of 7,149 ha (orchards 2,404 ha, meadows 4,740 ha, vineyards 5 ha). Pasture
area is 4,263 ha, fishponds 1,300 ha, while 3,974 ha of total land area belongs to infertile
land.
The city of Prijedor has relatively small areas where intensive production can be realized, and
in the planning process, the need for their protection is imposed. The specific goals and
general commitments of the wider social community regarding the protection of agricultural
land, as an inseparable resource, are binding on the consistency in the planning of the
protection of these areas.

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The Ljubija metalogenetic area covers the area of about 1200 km2, the northwestern part of
the Republic of Srpska, with numerous mineral deposits. In particular, deposits of iron ore as
metallurgical raw materials are dominant and partly as mineral pigments, then deposits and
phenomena of: barite, fluorite, gypsum, limestone, dolomite, clay (kaolin, bentonite, ceramic
and brick), quartz sand, coal, etc.
Deposits of mineral raw materials are with different morphogenetic type, origin and time of
formation, and they are characterized by different degrees of study and research. In the area of
municipality of Prijedor, three important raw material deposits and exploitation fields are
existed [3]:
-RŢR- centralna rudišta Ljubija 150 ha
-RŢR- istočna rudišta Tomašica 170 ha
-Novi rudnici Omarska 200 ha
-Glinokop "Crna dolina" 18 ha
-Kamenolom '' Drenovača '' 18 ha
_________________________________________________
TOTAL 556 ha

The total area of the exploitation fields is 5,500 ha, with inland planes within, which occupy
556 ha. The total area of exploitation fields of central and eastern ore mines is 4,707 ha, of
which 2,554 ha are used for central mining area (Ljubija), of which about 763 ha for the
surface mines. The total area of the exploitation fields '' Istočna rudišta '' at the Tomašica site
is 2,157 ha, of which about 520 ha belongs to the surface mines.
Locality Omarska is the only site on which iron ore is currently being exploited and covers an
area of approximately 5,567 ha. On this site is intensive iron ore exploitation, which lead in
the near future that the degraded areas in this area will be significantly higher, which will
result in permanent changes in the natural environment. [5]
In the previous practice, RŢR "Ljubija", the land was mainly exploited for the needs of
surface mines and by payment of compensation for the relocation of residential and
commercial buildings, while the rehabilitation of degraded areas after the exploitation was
completely ignored.

3.2. Land degradation areas in the area of Prijedor

The use of land for exploitation of ore deposits in the area of Prijedor municipality that takes
place in open pits present the important ecological problem. The biggest ore deposits on the
area of Omarska, Ljubija and Tomašica, so that by their exploitation there has been the
significant land degradation in the zones of exploitation. By exploitation of ore deposits on
the surface comes to land degradation and threats to the environment as a result of:
- exploitation of ore on the formed surfaces mines, which violates the regime of surface
and underground waters,
- formation of waste dump area that leads to change of terrain configuration and
disruption of the surface water flows,
- forming accumulation for the mud disposal, which take a large areas and cause change
of ecological balance of the space,
- construction of mine infrastructure, the industrial platforms, roads etc., which
completely changed the purpose of land.
-

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The all these activities completely change the ecological and ambient characteristic of space
within zones of exploitation that manifest through: in violation of ambient and spatial
characteristics, endangerment of plant cover, violation of the regime of surface and
underground water, degradation of air quality due to work of equipment, and process of ore
separation.

3.2.1. Present forms of land pollution

Under the land pollution is concerned the process of entering the different solid, liquid and
gas material in land. It is coming by their accumulation in land. When this accumulation
crosses a critical point it leads to their harmful manifest to the soil characteristics. Soil
pollution occurs due to the accumulation of heavy metals, pesticides, heterocyclic
hydrocarbons as well as other chemical compounds that result from release of the municipal
and industrial waters and uncontrolled waste disposal.
Under the influence of these substances mostly comes to the accumulation of pollutants and
toxic substances in soil without visible damage but with the possible effects on the plants.
Accumulation in certain parts of the plants has result in toxic effects on humans and animals.
The occurrences of degradation, or violation of quality of the environment because use of the
chemical substances in agriculture and exploitation of ore causes a whole range of
consequences that manifest in different ways and cause disorder of natural balance and
compromise the health of the population. Figure 1 summarizes the causes of land pollution in
the municipality Prijedor [2].

Figure 1. Layout of the most important causes of land pollution in the area of Prijedor

The most common form of damage - soil degradation in our area is the exploitation of ore
(Figure 2), then the construction of settlements and industrial facilities in the areas of arable
agricultural land.

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Figure 2. Layout of the most common forms of land damages in the area of Prijedor

When considering the functioning of the institutions responsible for land management or the
execution of their tasks in the area of land protection, the most significant problem that
manifests itself is the lack of systematic land monitoring (Figure 3), which prevents the
adoption of adequate protection measures [2].

Figure 3. Layout of the current problems in the field of land management in the area of Prijedor

In order to protect the land as a natural resource, it is necessary to undertake a series of

planning and organizational measures primarily through the adoption and implementation of
the program of rehabilitation of degraded areas and the establishment of systematic
monitoring of land. Overview of the measures that represent the most significant development
of the land protection is shown in the Figure 4.

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Figure 4. Layout of the measures that can give the most significant contibution of the land protection in the area
of Prijedor

3.3. Management of the land and the present ecological consequences

In the area of the city of Prijedor, due to the unresolved issues of land management as a
resource the following problems occur [3]:
- degradation of significant land surface, which represents a permanent loss of this
extremely important natural resource in the area of Prijedor,
- increased soil contamination due to the presence of toxic substances - heavy metals,
pesticides, detergents, etc.,
- increased soil contamination due to uncontrolled disposal of various types of solid and
other waste,
- discharge of wastewater, without prior treatment, causes land pollution and
significantly contributes to the degradation of its quality,
- increasing the areas affected by ambrosia as a weed plant,
- the occurrence of unplanned transformation of agricultural land into a constructional
and permanent loss of quality agricultural land.

3.4. Causes of degradation and soil contamination

Degradation and pollution of land in the area of the city of Prijedor was caused due to
unresolved issues of land management and non-compliance of the valid regulations and
obligations in this area, as follows:
- entities that have carried out and exploited the mineral resources, after the
exploitation, do not mainly have recovery of the degradation of land, causing the
appearance of large areas of land unsuitable for agricultural production,
- a large number of resulting depressions are used for disposal of solid waste, which
further contributes to the pollution of soil and groundwater,
- water accumulations in degraded areas are also susceptible to pollution, and
infiltration pollutes the groundwater (a phenomenon particularly occurs in the
protection zones of the source).

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- the inexperienced use of pesticides and other chemicals in agriculture significantly

contributes to soil contamination.
- the discharge of municipal and industrial waters, without their treatments, causes soil
pollution by the various types of pollutants.
- arrangement the quality agricultural land into construction land, causing permanent
loss and reduction of agricultural land.
- uncontrolled disposal of the various types of waste - the occurrence of wild dumps,
which causes degradation of the quality of the land.
- the constant process of abandoning the rural areas and urbanization is contributed by
the emergence of growing areas of infertile land and land that are not suitable for
agricultural production, which has been affected by the increase in areas affected by
weed plants, in particular by ambrosia.

This attitude towards the land as an extremely important natural resource has the consequence
of permanent loss of high quality agricultural land and pollution of land, which can
significantly affect the healthy status of the population.

3.5. The protection measures of soil in the area of Prijedor

In order to protect the land as important resource in the area of the city of Prijedor, it is
necessary to ensure the implementation of protection measures as follows:
- adoption and implementation of the program for remediation of degraded areas caused
by the exploitation of ore,
- the implementation of adequate control and control of the chemical agents used in the
protection of agricultural products, and ensure their proper use,
- establishment of monitoring of soli quality, through regular control of parameters that
are indicators of soil pollution,
- ensuring the rational use of available arable land and preserving the agricultural land,
- establish complete and high quality management of solid and hazardous waste and, or
prevent the uncontrolled waste disposal in the area of Prijedor.
- adopt the normative and program documents in order to control the ambrosia - weed
plant that is the cause of allergen emissions that significantly endangers the health of
the population.
- ensure the application of the modern agrotechnical measures wherever possible, and
by expanding agricultural land increase the utilization of soil for primarily organic
food production.

4. CONCLUSION

1. Land degradation and pollution in the area of Prijedor is primarily due to unplanned and
irrational use of land, as well as the occurence of various waste and chemical substances
in the soil.
2. Degradation and pollution of soil in this area is primarily caused by the exploitation of
mineral ore, uncontrolled disposal of solid and hazardous waste, as well as unprofessional
and uncontrolled use of the chemicals in agriculture.
3. The occurrence of soil degradation through the exploitation of mineral ore leads to a
change in the ecological and environmental characteristics of the areas in the exploitation
zones.

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4. The introduction of pollutants into the soil leads to their accumulation in soil and
accumulation in certain parts of plants, which leads to their toxic effects on humans and
animals.
5. Problems of the management of land resources in the area of the city of Prijedor are
present due to the lack of systematic monitoring of the quality of the land, the lack of
quality plans for recovery of degraded areas and the insufficiently developed awareness of
the importance of the land.
6. Soil protection in our area can be achieved through the adoption and implementation of
quality programs for remediation of the degraded areas, through the provision of
systematic soil monitoring, better control of the use of chemicals in agriculture and
through quality management of solid and hazardous waste.

REFERENCES

1 Baras J., 2003. Zaštita ţivotne sredine i odrţivi razvoj, Glasnik hemičara i tehnologa Republike Srpske,
Banja Luka.
2 Vranješ D., 2008. Oblici degradacije zemljišta i šuma na području opštine Prijedor i mjere zaštite, časopis
"Agroznanje" br 2, Univerzitet Banja Luka, Poloprivredni fakultet Banja Luka.
3 Lokalni ekološki akcioni plan opštine Prijedor, Ekološko društvo "Kozara", Prijedor, 2005.
4 Protić Lj., 1995. Mineralni resursi Republike Srpske kao osnova individualnog razvoja, Zbornik radova sa
simpozijuma "Resursi Republike Srpske".
5 Integralna strategija razvoja grada Prijedora za period 2014-2024. godine, Skupština grada Prijedora,
Prijedor, 2013.
6 Procjena ugroţenosti od elementarnih nepogoda na području grada Prijedora, Skupštine grada Prijedora,
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