RERI: Environment in Serbia in an alarming state

NEWS 28.07.202217:23
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The environment in Serbia is at a very worrying level, there are entire contaminated regions that have been exposed to high levels of pollution for years, said Mirko Popovic, the program director of the NGO Renewables and Environmental Regulatory Institute (RERI).

Speaking at a media conference on the guidelines within the RERI project ‘Strengthening supervisory mechanisms and protection of the right to a healthy and preserved environment in the Republic of Serbia’, Popovic said it was obvious that “in practice some things don’t work, even though they are prescribed by law”.

“We don’t need reports to see what the environment is like, we just need to open a window. In Serbia the right to environment is declared a fundamental rights, however, law without protection mechanisms bears no results and remains a dead letter,” Popovic said.

He added that “the laws are such that they allow for many illegal activities to slip through the lack of clear legal instruments and instructions on various bodies’ activities.”

Statistics show that there is the least number of punishments for environmental pollution related to industrial pollution and that “punishments for illegal logging or for animal harassment protection are prevalent,” Popovic said.