The Ekološki ustanak (Ecological Uprising) movement has called on citizens to sign a petition to protect water in the constitution.
The Ecological Uprising is launching a campaign titled Water in the Constitution! to amend the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia. Water would be declared a constitutional category – a common good under the absolute protection of the state, according to the group’s petition on the Peticije website.
Water must not be a commodity or a privilege, the movement stressed.
“Water is life and the right of every human being. Water belongs equally to every citizen and no one has the right to alienate, privatise and poison it!”, the Ecological Uprising added.
The Ecological Uprising noted that 80% of water resources are in the hands of foreign companies
The movement is calling for water to become a constitutional category through an amendment to article 74 of the constitution, Beta reported. Ekološki ustanak stressed that 80% of water resources are in the hands of foreign companies that are able to use them as they please.
The movement is calling for the establishment of special departments within the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office and Higher Court in Belgrade, to combat environmental crime.
The demand is part of a plan for the protection of the environment in Serbia, which the movement presented.
In the first 100 days after the change of the current government, the new authorities should introduce measures to protect the environment, including temporary bans on mini hydropower plants in protected areas, forest felling in protected zones, and permitting without full public scrutiny of processes.
The plan for the protection of the environment represents the renewal of the state and environment
Danijela Nestorović, an MP of the Ecological Uprising in the National Assembly of Serbia, stressed that the plan represents the renewal of the state and environment, which is not a matter of ideology.
The goal is not to stop development, but to put an end to a model of plundering natural resources under the guise of investment, she underscored.
The essence of the plan is to consult citizens first, transparently present the project to the public, and conduct environmental impact assessments before projects are implemented, in her view.
The Ecological Uprising’s leader Aleksandar Jovanović Ćuta compared Serbia to “an environmental time bomb” and called on students, environmental organisations, and all other citizens to participate in the outlined program.
Of note, in 2019, only 13 out of 250 members of the parliament have signed the Green Party’s initiative to protect drinking water under the Constitution.
