Environmental protection in Serbia; Environmental challenges of a war and an experience of the subsequent consolidation

Abstract

The main purpose of the article is to show the development of the state of Serbian environmental protection from the nineties to nowadays. In the first section, it is inevitable to start with the tragic events of the nineties, with the civil war and the subsequent NATO air strikes. In addition, an important part of this section is the discussion of the radioactive pollution caused by the airstrikes. The following section is describing the recent situation according the main environmental factors and also shortly shows the correlating factors like economy, international cooperation and regulations. In the final part, despite the large progress of the approved environmental regulations, probably the most actual and severe issues – the implementation and execution of the regulations – are discussed. It is important to see that despite all the development since the end of war until today, despite the progress in the European Union accession process and the accompanied further integration there are still several hurdles – lack of funding, lack of cross-sector planning or public awareness - to overcome in order to change the state of the Serbian environment.