Belgrade, June 12th, 2020. – In order to inform political candidates for the parliamentary elections, as well as for the local elections in five cities of Serbia: Smederevo, Subotica, Kraljevo, Kragujevac and Šabac, a group of civil society organizations from these cities, together with Belgrade Open School (BOS) addresses the parties participating in the forthcoming elections, demanding that by participating in the elections they should also take responsibility for making and implementing decisions for clean air.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency data, over 2.5 million of Serbian citizens breathe excessively polluted air. The official assessment of air quality in 10 large urban areas is that the air is excessively polluted. We fear that this number is probably even higher. The percentage of reliable data coming from the network of the state agency’s air quality measuring stations that meet the legal criteria, is just under 50 percent. The existing data are worrying enough, and with each new station opened they become even more pressing.
World Health Organization estimates that air pollution is fatal for over 6,500 of our fellow citizens every year. Suspended particles in the air, being the mixture of soot, dust, and smoke, that we inhale, breakthrough our airways and can harm practically any organ when they enter the bloodstream. Due to long-term impaired health caused by the polluted air, citizens of Serbia are losing over 100,000 years of life.
Air pollution primarily comes from the energy sector. The solid fuels used in our heating plants, homes, and thermal power plants, combined with inefficient combustion devices and outdated technology, make invisible air a visible threat to our health.
We are asking for improved monitoring and more measuring based on which pollution problem-solving decisions will be possible to make.
Significant investments are needed, which according to the estimates of the Fiscal Council, exceeded two billion euros. Elektroprivreda Srbije alone should invest over 600 million euros in the modernization of its plants. Anyone who considers this cost high, should consider that the status quo is even more expensive. It is estimated that costs incurred in the health system, as a consequence of the treatment of diseases caused by polluted air, amount to almost five billion euros.
What do the candidates in these elections recognize as the key challenges related to air pollution? What solutions will they advocate for? With the intention to give these topics more space in the media and especially during the final phase of the pre-election presentations of candidates and lists, this statement is addressed to media professionals and organizations, asking them to pose these questions, and in that way enable the proposals of the measures for the protection of air quality in Serbia to be presented to the public.
Photo source: Belgrade Open School
Belgrade Open School
Protok21 – Smederevo
Initiative “Za Šabac bez smoga”
Association “Res Publika” Kragujevac
Center for ecology and sustainable development “CEKOR” Subotica
Association “Novi Put” Kraljevo