The Ministry of Environmental Protection, in cooperation with partners, has started the process of developing an Environmental Protection Strategy with an Action Plan within the EU project for the Green Agenda in Serbia. A strategy is a basic public policy document that determines the strategic direction of action and public policy in a certain area. The strategy is usually adopted for a period of five to seven years, and the achievement of its goals is planned and monitored through an action plan for the implementation of the strategy.

The proposal for strategic directions of action, as well as the framework in which the draft Strategy is set, coincide with the goals of the Sofia Declaration and the five pillars of the Green Agenda for the Western Balkans: decarbonization, energy efficiency and reduction of industrial emissions, circular economy for resource efficiency and industrial symbiosis, reduction of environmental pollution environment with a focus on air quality, protection and investment in biodiversity and ecosystems and sustainable food systems and rural development.

Why is it important to be part of the process?

The specific goal of the Volvox project - The power of the community to contribute to the development of a competent civil society that will be a credible partner to public authorities in the development of policies in the area of the environment and perform effective and independent supervision in the process of adopting strategic documents. The Belgrade Open School, Young Researchers of Serbia and the Regulatory Institute for Renewable Energy and the Environment are jointly implementing a project through which they want to be able a wider range of civil society organizations to participate in the development of this important public policy document.

In order to make the process more transparent and with the desire to involve a wider range of organizations in the process of drafting the Strategy, on March 9, 2023, the first consultative meeting was held in Belgrade in order to give representatives of civil society organizations with expertise in the field of environmental protection environment provided the opportunity to give their comments and contributions in the early stage of drafting the Environmental Protection Strategy.

Vesna Ćurčić Pantelić, from the Ministry of Environmental Protection, pointed out that the Strategy will be drafted in accordance with the Law on the Planning System and that the goal is to adopt this document by the end of the current year. Also, the representative of the Ministry mentioned that a strategic assessment of the impact will be done along with the development of the Strategy.

Tw meetings of the Working Group have been held so far, at the first meeting they worked on problem identification, while during the second meeting, the members of the Working Group talked about the general, specific goals and indicators of the future Strategy. In the coming period, two more meetings of the Working Group are expected, where more will be said about the definition of measures, financial analysis, and analysis of effects. The first draft of the Strategy can be expected in July, while the consultation process will be held in the period from June to September when we can expect the Action Plan to be available. The public discussion is planned for the period between October and November.

The European Union Green Agenda project consists of two aspects. The first is the improvement of the legal and strategic framework in the Republic of Serbia in the area of the Green Agenda, while the second aspect of the project is direct support to projects and organizations that contribute to this process, said Radovan Nikčević, representative of UNDP (United Nations Development Program).

What is the attitude of civil society?

As it is important to include civil society in the process of drafting the Strategy from the very beginning, the event brought together representatives of civil society organizations who are not part of the Working Group for drafting the Strategy, and with their experience and expertise they can significantly contribute to the process of drafting this document.

The participants pointed out that it is important to harmonize the Strategy with other developed strategies and other public policy documents and that it should not be viewed as an isolated document. In the meantime, several strategies and important public policy documents were adopted, and now the task is to harmonize the existing problems with the already adopted documents. In addition to the transparency of the production process itself, we should also insist on the transparency of the input data we have. When organizing regional consultations in cities, it is important to actively involve local communities and enable them to contribute, as well as organize consultations in more cities in addition to the ones planned in Belgrade, Niš and Novi Sad.

Antoine Avignon from the Delegation of the European Union in Serbia pointed out that it is important that we gathered to discuss the process of developing the Strategy, as well as the importance of the participation of all relevant stakeholders, the process before us should be transparent and legally correct.

Within thematic groups, organizations had the opportunity to discuss identified environmental problems, general and specific goals within the Strategy, as well as indicators that should measure the fulfillment of goals.

After the first consultative meeting, the conclusion is that many problems, as well as potential solutions, cannot be identified without the involvement of all relevant ministries in the process. All thematic units of the Strategy are interconnected, and that is why cooperation between relevant institutions and sectors is important. Also, it is important to define the competencies of state institutions and ensure full transparency. Certain set indicators for reaching the proposed goals should be changed and expanded, but also harmonized with other public policy documents.

The next consultative meeting will be held in May after the meeting of the Working Group for the development of the Strategy.

Author of the photo: Belgrade Open School