"Here in Zenica we are all sick, only some don’t know they are sick yet.”

Those were the words of an activist whom Matteo Trevisan met on his first trip to Bosnia in 2019. Two years later, the activist died of lung cancer. That was when — and largely why — this project started.

Zenica, a city of roughly 100,000 people some 70 kilometers north of Sarajevo, is one of the most polluted cities in Bosnia. The main source of pollution, according to Eko Forum, a local environmental organization, is a huge steel plant owned by AcelorMittal. The plant, which is almost as large as the city itself, produces energy by burning coal.

The situation has residents in the city and surrounding areas worried about their health and their future.

Alma, who lives in Tetovo, a village not far from the industrial center of Zenica, said she moved to the area after she married, more than four decades ago. “At that time, many people worked in the factory, but today the situation is terrible. Within a 300-metre radius of my house, everyone has cancer.” She was diagnosed with stomach cancer herself in 2021.

This is not just a story of Zenica, or even Bosnia, but more broadly of the Central Balkans, where countless cities and towns face heavily polluted air caused by outdated coal industries and power plants, open-cast lignite mines and ash dumps.

According to a Human Rights Watch report, Bosnia has the fifth highest number of deaths from air pollution in the world. Concentrations of pollutants in the region — which is home to seven of the 10 most polluting coal-fired power stations in Europe — are five times higher than the limits set by the EU, the U.N. Environment Program has found.

In the years Trevisan explored the industrial cities of Zenica, Tuzla, Banovici and other places saddled with pollution, he discovered a remarkable country, scarred by war but resolutely hopeful that becoming a member of the EU will improve a toxic environmental landscape and usher in a brighter future.