Some 99 percent of public opinion survey participants in Serbia used the words “sad,” “desperate,” “devastating,” “disturbing,” and “worrying” to describe the state of the country’s environment, according to the survey titled “Otvori zelena vrata – koja je tvoja ključna reč.”
Serbia’s young researchers, the Open School in Belgrade and the Regulatory Institute for Renewable Energy and the Environment, who conducted the EU-funded survey, have said that they will present the results to a working group drafting the national environmental strategy.
The programme manager for civil society and human rights at the EU Delegation in Serbia said Europe is trying to increase the capacity of civil society organizations through its programmes, funding formal organizations and groups, and building better trust between civil society and the authorities to deal with the environmental issues.
“In any democratic society, it is crucial to be able to listen to what citizens think. Civil society plays a key role in this, allowing citizens to speak up and report on their concerns and priorities and ensuring that the decision-making mechanism takes these concerns into account at the state and local levels,” he said.
The survey was conducted as part of the two-year project on civil society participation in environmental policy development and monitoring, among a sample of 600 social media respondents from mid-March to mid-April.
(Danas, 08.06.2022)
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