In Serbia, 3,000 illegal landfills poison arable land

“In the vicinity of each landfill, arable land is seriously contaminated. The land absorbs toxic substances from landfills, especially when it rains, so we get agricultural products from those areas that are not healthy “, said Marko Vujic from the Center for Environmental Policy of the Faculty of Political Sciences.

He added that the most polluted water is in central and northern Banat, where several hundred thousand inhabitants live who have not been able to drink tap water for 46 years.

“It is unbelievable and irresponsible that Serbia has not been able to solve the problem of lack of drinking water in Banat for decades,” Vujic said.

He stated that in many cities, 95% of the sewage flows into rivers. According to him, Serbia is also polluted by the irresponsible behavior of private companies, primarily foreign investors.

“Our environmental standards are lower than in the countries from which most investors come. “Foreigners do not respect even the minimum valid environmental standards, and on the other hand, there is no environmental inspection that would supervise their work,” Vujic said.

He stated that Serbia has only one environmental inspector per 100,000 inhabitants.

“We are a very fertile ground for investors who do not invest in environmental protection, and lately they mostly come from China. “The enormous pollution in Smederevo and Bor is the best indicator of how much the Chinese care about the environment and the health of their citizens,” he said.

Vujic says that the people who live in Bor and Smederevo and breathe the air from the smelters there are heroes.

“Definitely, Chinese investors have significantly worsened the state of the environment in Serbia.” The statement of President Aleksandar Vucic that he was not interested in the fact that Chinese investors could not be realized in China due to high environmental standards was inadmissible. This behavior of the people in power rightly brings unrest to the citizens “, said the ecologist.

If we add to that the projects that are in the plan, stated Vujic, such as the lithium mine in Jadar near Loznica, then we can conclude that the state also participates a lot in the processes that endanger human health.

“No smart country would allow a company like Rio Tinto to open mines. That mine would cause contamination of fertile land in tens of square kilometers, and the whole area would be turned into desolation “, assessed Vujic.

He added that the lithium mine would completely abolish agricultural production in Jadar and endanger people’s lives. In order for Serbia to standardize the field of ecology at the average level with the European Union, he added, 15 billion euros and “of course good will” are needed.

“Currently, less than 0.3 percent of GDP is allocated for environmental protection in Serbia, and 2-3 percent of GDP in the EU. “Before joining the EU, Bulgaria and Romania invested 8-10% of GDP in environmental protection,” Vujic said.

He concluded that the current government, unfortunately, does not connect a healthy environment with human health.

Source: danas.rs

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