Development of the Strategy for the Environmental Protection continued

Belgrade, April 25, 2023 -- In partnership with the "EU for Green Agenda in Serbia" project, the Ministry of Environmental Protection organized the third meeting of the Working Group for the development of the Environmental Protection Strategy - Green Agenda for Serbia.

The two-day workshop marked another important step towards the completion of the draft Strategy, the drafting of which represents a key task for Serbia, as it aims to define priorities in the field of environmental protection and sustainable development.

The strategy will be aligned with the goals of the Sofia Declaration and all five pillars of the Green Agenda for the Western Balkans (decarbonization - reduction of dependence on fossil fuels and transition to renewable energy sources, circular economy - preservation and more efficient use of natural resources, reduction of environmental pollution, protection and conservation nature and biological diversity, and establishing sustainable systems for food supply and rural development).

The workshop was attended by more than a hundred participants, including representatives of the relevant ministries in the Government of Serbia, the academic community, civil society and the private sector. They shared their ideas and perspectives on key environmental challenges, defining measures for the implementation of general and specific goals in the areas of the Green Agenda and proposed activities for the implementation of those measures. The creation of a gender analysis that will cover all areas of the Green Agenda has also been started, so that the gender perspective would be integrated into this umbrella document in the environmental sector.

The next meeting of the working group is scheduled for the beginning of July, when the analysis of the effects of the measures, the Action Plan for the implementation of the Strategy and the financial assessment of the previous investments in the sectors covered by the Environmental Protection Strategy will be presented.

The process of developing the Strategy is coordinated by the Ministry of Environmental Protection, with the support of the project "EU for the Green Agenda in Serbia", which, with the technical and financial support of the European Union and the partnership with the Ministry of Environmental Protection, is implemented by UNDP, in cooperation with the Embassy of Sweden and the European Investment Bank (EIB), with additional funding from the Governments of Sweden, Switzerland and Serbia.