The #SummerSense campaign, launched by the WHO Regional Office for Europe, in partnership with UNICEF Europe and Central Asia, aims to support people with assessing the risks posed by increased travel and mass gatherings taking every precaution. With the first reported cases of the Delta variant in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the vigilance must remain high, to avoid more infections and hospitalizations. Using all the tools at disposal to prevent transmission is of utmost importance: the tailored and consistent practice of all well-known measures, in combination with equitable vaccination.
As Dr. Fabio Scano, acting Head of WHO Country Office for Bosnia and Herzegovina, explains, the campaign promotes a number of simple, but effective measures people in Bosnia and Herzegovina can take to reduce their COVID-19 risk: “If you want to travel, think about the need. If you decide to, do it safely. Now is not the time to let down our guard. What is really critical is that Bosnia and Herzegovina continues to maintain low level of transmission of COVID-19 using all measures. Individuals have a role to play in this with physical distancing, wearing of masks, ventilating indoors and avoiding crowded spaces. All of these actions will drive down transmission and all of these actions need to continue. This is practicing #SummerSense and reducing the risk of getting infected”. At the end of summer, authorities will also be planning children and young people’s safe return to schools and university. Dr. Rownak Khan, UNICEF Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina, highlighted the connection of the safe behaviors and the schools reopening: “It is great to see that the numbers of cases are currently low along with deaths, but the fight is not yet over. Unfortunately, the virus does not take a summer break and therefore until the immunisation rates are higher, we must maintain safe behaviours. Each of us can contribute through responsible and safe behaviours. This will help us and our children to go back to normal lives. We will continue our work with partners and authorities to ensure safely re-opening schools after summer”. Even though more people are getting vaccinated, and some public health measures are easing, now is not the time to drop our guard as the pandemic is far from over. Now is the time for #SummerSense.

The Report further noted that in the last 24 years cannabis potency had increased by as much as four times in parts of the world, even as the percentage of adolescents who perceived the drug as harmful fell by as much as 40 per cent, despite evidence that cannabis use is associated with a variety of health and other harms, especially among regular long-term users. "Lower perception of drug use risks has been linked to higher rates of drug use, and the findings of UNODC’s 2021 World Drug Report highlight the need to close the gap between perception and reality to educate young people and safeguard public health,” said UNODC Executive Director Ghada Waly. “The theme of this year’s International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking is “Share facts on drugs. Save lives”, emphasizing the importance of strengthening the evidence base and raising public awareness, so that the international community, governments, civil society, families and youth can make informed decisions, better target efforts to prevent and treat drug use, and tackle world drug challenges.” According to the Report, the percentage of Δ9-THC —the main psychoactive component in cannabis— has risen from around six per cent to more than 11 per cent in Europe between 2002-2019, and around four per cent to 16 per cent in the United States between 1995-2019, while the percentage of adolescents that perceived cannabis as harmful declined by 40 per cent in the United States and by 25 per cent in Europe. Moreover, most countries have reported a rise in the use of cannabis during the pandemic. In surveys of health professionals across 77 countries, 42 per cent asserted that cannabis use had increased. A rise in the non-medical use of pharmaceutical drugs has also been observed in the same period.  Drug Use Rising, but Science-Based Treatment More Available Between 2010-2019 the number of people using drugs increased by 22 per cent, owing in part to global population growth. Based on demographic changes alone, current projections suggest an 11 per cent rise in the number of people who use drugs globally by 2030 -- and a marked increase of 40 per cent in Africa, due to its rapidly growing and young population. According to the latest global estimates, about 5.5 per cent of the population aged between 15 and 64 years have used drugs at least once in the past year, while 36.3 million people, or 13 per cent of the total number of persons who use drugs, suffer from drug use disorders. Globally, over 11 million people are estimated to inject drugs, half of whom are living with Hepatitis C. Opioids continue to account for the largest burden of disease attributed to drug use. The two pharmaceutical opioids most commonly used to treat people with opioid use disorders, methadone and buprenorphine, have become increasingly accessible over the past two decades. The amount available for medical use has increased six-fold since 1999, from 557 million daily doses to 3,317 million by 2019, indicating that science-based pharmacological treatment is more available now than in the past. The Dark Web Drug markets on the dark web only emerged a decade ago but major ones are now worth at least US$ 315 million in annual sales. Although this is just a fraction of overall drug sales, the trend is upwards with a fourfold increase between 2011 to mid-2017 and mid-2017 to 2020. Rapid technological innovation, combined with the agility and adaptability of those using new platforms to sell drugs and other substances, is likely to usher in a globalized market where all drugs are more available and accessible everywhere. This, in turn, could trigger accelerated changes in patterns of drug use and entail public health implications, according to the Report. The Drug Market Rebounds and Shifts The new report shows that drug markets have swiftly resumed operations after the initial disruption at the onset of the pandemic; a burst that has triggered or accelerated certain pre-existing trafficking dynamics across the global drug market. Among these are: increasingly larger shipments of illicit drugs, a rise in the frequency of overland and water-way routes used for trafficking, greater use of private planes for the purpose of drug trafficking, and an upsurge in the use of contactless methods to deliver drugs to end-consumers. The resilience of drug markets during the pandemic has demonstrated once again traffickers’ ability to adapt quickly to changed environments and circumstances. The Report also noted that cocaine supply chains to Europe are diversifying, pushing prices down and quality up and thereby threatening Europe with a further expansion of the cocaine market. This is likely to widen the potential harm caused by the drug in the region. The number of new psychoactive substances (NPS) emerging on the global market fell from 163 in 2013 to 71 in 2019. This reflects trends in North America, Europe and Asia. The findings suggest national and international control systems have succeeded in limiting the spread of NPS in high income countries, where NPS first emerged a decade ago. Drug Risks, New Developments Spurred by Pandemic COVID-19 has triggered innovation and adaptation in drug prevention and treatment services through more flexible models of service delivery. Many countries have introduced or expanded telemedicine services due to the pandemic, which for drug users means that healthcare workers can now offer counselling or initial assessments over the telephone and use electronic systems to prescribe controlled substances. While the impact of COVID-19 on drug challenges is not yet fully known, the analysis suggests that the pandemic has brought increasing economic hardship that is likely to make illicit drug cultivation more appealing to fragile rural communities. The social impact of the pandemic –driving a rise in inequality, poverty, and mental health conditions particularly among already vulnerable populations-- represent factors that could push more people into drug use.  *** The 2021 World Drug Report provides a global overview of the supply and demand of opiates, cocaine, cannabis, amphetamine-type stimulants and new psychoactive substances (NPS), as well as their impact on health, taking into account the possible effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Full report and briefs posted here: https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/data-and-analysis/wdr2021.html 

At the project’s opening event,  UNESCO facilitated a session bringing together representatives from authorities at the BiH and local levels, journalist associations, academia as well as civil society organizations active in the field of peace and reconciliation.  The discussion highlighted the powerful role that social media and ICTs play in shaping socio-political realities, including their misuse as a tool to polarize society by manipulating and amplifying disinformation or by increasing hate speech and intolerance which could even fuel conflict. EU Special Representative and Head of the EU Delegation, Ambassador Johann Sattler underlined in his intervention that “The European Union is committed to supporting programmes that encourage the use of digital technologies to promote peaceful and resilient societies. Disinformation and hate speech are not new – they are as old as mankind. But the dominance of social media has increased the speed and reach of disinformation and hate speech, and their potential to do damage. We need to create spaces for collaboration between social media platforms, civil society, authorities to ensure that potential harmful content online does not fuel tensions and violence in already fragile societies.” The project will in enhance the understanding of the root causes, scale and impact of harmful content and of the effectiveness of the tools to address it in three pilot countries, Kenya, Indonesia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Building on that, in its second phase, the project will work to develop actions to limit harmful content in line with international standards protecting the freedom of expression. Moreover, in cooperation with media, fact checkers and civil society representatives, the project will enhance the promotion and support of peace building narratives and initiatives through digital technologies and social media.  “With this project, we would like to address and explore the potential of social media and new technologies for peace and human rights, in particular freedom of expression. But also a freedom of expression as an extraordinary tool to promote respect for cultural diversity of the country, and not to use is as an excuse for attacking other of different cultural, ethnic, religious or even political belonging.” Sinisa Sesum, Head of UNESCO Antenna in Sarajevo This new project is aligned with UNESCO’s overall strategy to combat disinformation by fostering the information as a public good and strengthening the transparency of the internet ecosystem. The Social Media 4 Peace project will also contribute to the achievement of SDG 16, to promote just, peaceful and inclusive societies and to the UN Plan of Action on Hate Speech launched by UN Secretary General Antonio Gutierrez to combat xenophobia, racism and intolerance online. The project will last for 36 months and is financed with €3 million investment from the EU’s Instrument Contributing to Stability and Peace.

Digital agriculture is the use of new and advanced technologies, integrated into one system, to enable farmers, agri-businesses and other stakeholders within the agriculture value chain to improve food production. Technologies used include sensors, communication networks, Artificial Intelligence (AI), drones, blockchain, robotics and other advanced machinery, which often draw on the principles of the Internet of Things and big data. These advanced technologies allow to optimise different farming processes from data collection, through to management and processing, as well as guidance and direction. Such technologies, as desert agriculture and seawater farming, allow for manipulations of biological systems and adaption of plant responses to adverse conditions. Digital agriculture has the potential to make agriculture more productive, more consistent and to use time and resources more efficiently. By 2050, the global population is expected to increase by 40% to 9.6 billion people. Such drastic population growth also boosts the demand for food, so that the agriculture industry will need to produce 70% more food while only using 5% more land, according to the 2009 FAO report “How to Feed the World in 2050”. In the light of various social and environmental dynamics, such as rapidly aging rural populations, urbanization pressures, stressed water resources and farmland degradation, it is generally acknowledged that only technological advancements can transform the agrifood systems in unprecedented way to eradicate hunger, ensure long-term food security and feed the Planet. FAO harnesses the power of digital technologies to pilot, accelerate and scale innovative ideas with high potential for impact in food and agriculture, transforming digital solutions and services into global public goods. The organization aims to explore the responsible application and adoption of existing and frontier technologies, design and scale new services, tools and approaches to empower rural households and inspire youth entrepreneurship in food and agriculture. In Western Balkans and Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), in particular, digitalization is also identified as one of the key enablers for all the action under the EU-led Green Agenda for the Western Balkans. In terms of the advancement of e-agriculture, Bosnia and Herzegovina is positioned relatively lower than other countries in the region, according to the World Bank’s Agriculture Digitalization Index (ADI) where BiH has the total score of 64,3. For example, ADI scores for Albania, Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia are 74.4, 85.9, 80.2, 79.9 and 89.3 respectively. In Bosnia and Herzegovina the Government also acknowledges the potential of technologies and innovation to become key accelerators of the agricultural sector development in the country, as these drivers are mentioned as an integral part of five formulated priority goals in the Strategic Plan for Rural Development of BiH for 2018-2021. In 2017 the BiH Council of Ministers already formally adopted the Policy on Development of Information Society in Bosnia and Herzegovina for 2017–2021, which aligns with the EU’s digital agenda. Digitalization of the economy and of agriculture, in particular, are also identified as fundamental development drivers in the newly-released SDGs Framework in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which defines broader development pathways, through which the governments at all levels and the society in BiH strive to contribute to implement the Agenda 2030 in the country. To support the Government along this development pathway, FAO has developed “Guidelines for the strategic framework of digitalization of agriculture in Bosnia and Herzegovina”, which were designed in a consultative manner through a series of workshops with the public and private sector stakeholders. The strategic report serves as a comprehensive snapshot assessment of the country’s current status of e-agriculture. Within the framework of the conducted analysis “ICT on Agricultural Holdings” 52 respondents from 26 cities or municipalities have been surveyed, and the survey results suggest that at the farm level the use of digital technologies is still limited in the country. For example, 13% of surveyed respondents still do not use any ICT solution in their agricultural production. Surveyed farmers most frequently use ICT for meteorological forecasting services and communication, while e-commerce platforms and e-access to the advisory service are still underutilized in BiH. Regarding the overview of the good practices in e-agriculture in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in 2020 the number of new ICT solutions in digital agriculture rapidly increased. FAO has collected the sample of 16 good practices collected from BiH, which includes examples of digital agricultural solutions both from the public and private sectors. One of such good practice examples is CARPO which is an Agrometeorological Web Reporting and Prognostic System developed for the Ministry of Agriculture, Water Management and Forestry of the Republic of Srpska. The system utilises observations from the Ministry’s network of agrometeorological stations, weather forecasts from numerical weather prediction systems and deterministic biological models to produce pest and disease forecasts for different crop types, that are cultivated in the country. Based on these forecasts the system produces alerts and notifications for the users, either farmers or agronomists, in order to take all the necessary actions to protect their crops. Also, through the system, users have the ability to report a disease occurrence to Extension service adviser or to upload photos of affected crops and to improve models results by adjusting model parameters with real situation in their fields. According to the FAO assessment, Bosnia and Herzegovina is currently entering the early stage of Digital Agriculture movement. On 9 June 2021 FAO organised a workshop to validate the proposed vision on digitalising agriculture in BiH, which brought together over twenty high-profile representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Affairs of BiH, Ministry of Telecommunication and Transport of BiH, Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Water Management and Forestry, Ministry of Agriculture Forestry and Water Management of RS, Goverment of Brcko District Department for Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management, other key state agencies, academia, international donor organizations and officers from the FAO Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia. The workshop participants have agreed with the FAO proposed vision stating that “by 2027, Bosnia and Herzegovina will have complied with all requirements regarding the European Union Accession process in terms of digitalization of agriculture to ensure a higher level of productivity and efficiency in agriculture”. This vision is to be achieved through actions in the key five priority areas: (1) accelerating digital transformation in the public sector, (2) implementation of ICT solutions in private sector, (3) human capacity development, (4) improving digital infrastructure in rural areas and (5) raising awareness of the benefits of implementing ICT solutions in agriculture. The finalised “Guidelines for the strategic framework of digitalization of agriculture in Bosnia and Herzegovina” report is expected to be published in Q4 2021. This report would kickstart and catalyse the country-wide Agriculture 4.0 movement in BiH at the policy level, which is to be accompanied with the investments into the micro digital solutions at the agribusiness and farm levels.  The “Guidelines for the strategic framework of digitalization of agriculture in Bosnia and Herzegovina” report marks the first fundamental milestone of incorporating the digitalization aspects into the legislative and strategic frameworks in the BiH agriculture sector. While the creation of the enabling environment for the wider use of innovation and digitalization in the agriculture sector is vital, it is equally important to ensure equal access to benefits of digital innovations for smallholder farmers and agri-food enterprises in the country. And FAO Country Office in BiH has future plans to capacitate smallholder farmers and agri-businesses with their access to digital technologies – that would require a wholistic approach to developing an impactful action which would address the problem both from the supply and demand sides, as well as from the access to finance perspective.   Vlado Pijunovic, National Programme Coordinator, FAO Country Office in BiH Regarding digitalization of agriculture in the country, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) must respond to EU requirements, as well as increase the productivity and economy of agricultural production. There are a large number of ICT solutions which potential has been tested in other countries, and that can be replicated in BiH. Such digital solutions in agriculture include robotic milking, use of sensors in crop production, solutions based on Internet of Things technology, use of satellites and drones. The application of these digital solutions in BiH would require a large number of activities from all stakeholders, such as promotion, education, localization, and investment support.   Professor Grujica Vico, PhD, National e-agriculture consultant