The Project “Volvox – Stronger involvement of civil society in environmental policy making and monitoring” aims to involve all interested citizens in environmental decision-making. As part of the first online campaign on this project, a survey “Open the green door – what is your key word” was conducted on social networks about the state of the environment in Serbia from the perspective of citizens and key changes they want to see in the future.
On that occasion, Young Researchers of Serbia organized a press conference “From Fear to Hope – Citizens of Serbia on the Environment” which presented the results of this survey, which was active in the period from 11th March to 15th April on the website Coalition 27. Respondents were asked to choose a key word to describe in one word how they would like the environment to look like in the future in Serbia.
Ekmel Cizmecioglu of the Delegation of the European Union in Serbia pointed out that the Volvox project is financed through the EU Civil Society Facility (CSF). “In a democratic society, the voice of citizens is crucial, and civil society has a key role to play in enabling citizens to have their voices heard, to express their concerns or priorities, to make sure that decision-makers take into account their views and opinions at the national or local level”, said Cizmecioglu.
In his introductory speech at the conference, Jordi Cadilla Falco, Program Manager for Environmental Protection from the Delegation of the European Union to Serbia, spoke about the priorities of the Green Agenda for the Western Balkans: “This project has good timing since the Green Agenda was adopted in 2020. “
Tanja Petrović, Executive Director of Young Researchers of Serbia, reminded that the survey was completed by nearly 600 respondents from all over Serbia, and that the answers clearly show that citizens in Serbia are not satisfied with the current state of the environment in Serbia and have a vision what it really should look like, and what are the possible measures that could be taken to achieve the desired state.
The key words that citizens have chosen to describe the current state of the environment in Serbia are: polluted, alarming, endangered, dangerous, degrading, risky, worrying, dirty, grey, neglected, critical, bad.
When it comes to the words they used to describe their vision of the environment in Serbia, the following words stand out: clean, healthy, peaceful, without waste, preserved, sustainable, green, as well as, harmonious, preserved, unpolluted, rich and in accordance with laws and regulations.
Understanding the problems we face in the field of environmental protection is a good starting point for finding mechanisms for greater citizen engagement in this area. The survey is not only and indicator of attitudes, although it was primarily used for those purposes, but also a way to raise awareness of problems and shortcomings in the field of environmental protection in Serbia.
One of the main goals of the VOLVOX Project – Community Strength, among other things, is to encourage greater, informed participation of citizens in environmental decision-making processes, based on cooperation and trust between state institutions and civil society, so that policy development processes are transparent and inclusive.
A two year project “Volvox – Stronger involvement of civil society in environmental policy making and monitoring”, is implemented by Young Researchers of Serbia partnered with Belgrade Open School (BOS) and Renewables and Environmental Regulatory Institute (RERI),and it is funded by the European Union.
