The Working Group informed citizens that there was no reason to worry about the current situation, because the concentration of particles is close to the average values ​​for this time of year. It seems that  members of the Working Group, intended or by accident, forgot to mention that exceeded air pollution is still exceeded air pollution (...) The president, by his reactions, could have led the Working Group, as well as all citizens, to the wrong track, declaring that "the air is as bad as our standard is higher". This is obviously wrong because air quality in the most developed countries in Europe is much better and healthier than here.

Winter holidays around the world are gladly awaited. In those days, something special feels in the air. Unfortunately for the citizens of Serbia, what they feel in the winter is a big danger, since it is a mixture of soot, dust and smoke, also called PM particles.

Air pollution in Serbia is not  a new thing. Data of the Serbian Environmental Protection Agency show that in the last ten years, many cities have been confronted with polluted or extremely polluted air. There is also a noticeable trend in the deterioration of air quality, which can be seen when comparing the most recent official data, those relating to 2018, with the data of few years that preceded it. In 2018, the air was over-polluted in Belgrade, Pancevo, Smederevo, Uzice, Kosjeric, Subotica, Valjevo, Kragujevac, Kraljevo and Sremska Mitrovica.

Of further concern is the fact that some other large communities in Serbia have been "spared" rigorous air quality assessments due to - insufficient measurement. The official air grade in Niš (good) was given noting that there were insufficient measurements. The measuring station in Novi Pazar has been installed recently and since the first day of its work it has recorded high concentrations of pollutants, so it is certain that the reports that follow will be less green - the color of "blissful ignorance".

As far as air and color are concerned, air should be a mixture of gases without color, taste or smell. The air in Serbia, unfortunately, has all of the aforementioned characteristics, and its colors are equally ominous both live and on paper - from the characteristic smog color seen by eyes, to the red and purple in reports and on internet portals showing air quality , which imply that the air is polluted or extremely polluted.

The annual number of days with excessively polluted air (there should be no more than 35 [1]) are largely exceeded as early as January. Most cities in Serbia, which traditionally have problems with polluted air, have only acceptable air quality for one to three days during January.

Can the wind solve the problem?

The alarm finally rang in the relevant institutions, so an urgent Government session was convened in mid-January to discuss measures to reduce air pollution, which resulted in the formation of an special Working Group which has to deal with air pollution. Whether it is because the institutions are doing their job, because there is constant communication among all relevant departments striving to comply with regulations that require urgent action in an emergency, or because of public pressure - we leave it to you to judge.

It may be worth noting that, if institutions do their job, communication is flowing and regulations are respected - emergencies are very rare, certainly far less often than in our case. Now, lets look in Working Group responsibilities. These are the following: "monitoring, analyzing and discussing the most important issues in the field of air pollution in Serbia", as well as "proposing measures for systematic solving of identified problems and harmonizing the positions of competent state bodies and other organizations and institutions dealing with the issue air pollution [2] ".

The first meeting of the Working Group, held on 21 January, appears to have been primarily used to paint some more bright colors of red and purple this winter. The Working Group informed citizens that there was no reason to worry about the current situation, because the concentration of particles is close to the average values ​​for this time of year. It seems that  members of the Working Group, intended or by accident, forgot to mention that exceeded air pollution is still exceeded air pollution. It is also important to mention that the first reactions from the state leadership to the problem of polluted air did not come from the government, but from the president, who could have led the Working Group, as well as all citizens, to the wrong trail by declaring that: “the air is worse as high as our standard". could have led the Working Group, as well as all citizens, to the wrong track, declaring that "the air is as bad as our standard is higher". This is obviously wrong because air quality in the most developed countries in Europe is much better and healthier than here.

The picture of winter air in Serbia does not have to be painted only with colors. Numbers can also serve. The more precise the numbers, the more sharp the picture for the members of the Working Group, and therefore the better the solutions. And the numbers say that almost 60% of households in Serbia use solid fuels for heating, while this figure reaches almost 90% when it comes to the poorest citizens of Serbia, and that more than 50% of households own stoves whose efficiency is less than 40% . The Environmental Protection Agency's inventory further sharpens the whole picture, stating that PM particles are predominantly derived from individual fireboxes, as well as from small heating plants (57% for PM10 and 75% for PM 2.5 particles) [3]. This rather clear picture shows us that the problem of air pollution lies primarily in the way households are heated, and that many households are in a state of energy poverty [4] - resulting in difficult or impossible provision of sufficient energy during the winter, as well as in proportion to the high heating costs, relative to household income.

It seems that the pollution picture is sufficiently sharpened and concrete measures can be taken to improve the situation. However, when it comes to solutions, the Working Group has started from approving subsidies for the purchase of electric and hybrid vehicles, and in this context setting up high-speed electric chargers in key corridor locations. It looks like we didn't look in the same picture, since, at least on ours, traffic is a bit smaller because, according to the Serbian Environmental Protection Agency data, it contributes to a total concentration of PM10 and PM 2.5 particles with only 6%.

After the executive, the legislature also declared itself, by organizing public hearings in the National Assembly, which served as an opportunity for direct participants: MPs, civil society organizations and others, as well as everyone who followed the public listening live, from representatives of line ministries and institutions in charge of this field hear more about the state of air quality and specific solutions. The main impression that the participants brought from the public hearing was that the government representatives, encouraged  by the wind, hoped that the wind would remove air pollution from the agenda by at least October.

It seems that even when the air is cleaner, the weather flows more slowly, so it is estimated that there is a lot of time to solve the problem, since most of the measures mentioned above had an attributed date from more or less the near future - 2023 or 2025. Delays with the adoption of the Air Protection Strategy (the deadline for adoption expired in 2011) and the National Emission Reduction Plan (NERP), which should be effective from January 1, 2018, but was recently adopted by the government, do not go along with the determined fight against polluted air.

Ognjan Pantic, Belgrade Open School

The article is conveyed from 56. edition of the newsletter "Lets talk about negotiations".

Photo source: canva.com