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 Water in the Constitution! campaign 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 Petition website.
Water must not be a commodity, nor 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 noted that 80% of water resources are in the hands of foreign companies and they are free to dispose of them
The movement is calling for special departments within the Belgrade High Prosecutor’s Office and High Court to be established to combat environmental crime.
The demand is part of the plan for the protection of the environment of Serbia, presented by the movement.
In the first 100 days after a change of government, the new authorities should introduce measures to protect the environment, including the temporary closure of mini-hydropower plants in protected areas, a ban on felling forests in protected zones, and a ban on issuing permits without full public scrutiny of the process.
Plan for the protection of the environment represents the renewal of the state and the environment
Danijela Nestorović, a MP for the Ecological Uprising in the National Assembly of Serbia, stressed that the plan represents the renewal of the state and the environment, which is not a matter of ideology.
Their goal is not to stop development, but to halt the model of plundering natural resources under the guise of investment, she explained.
The essence of the plan is to consult citizens, to transparently present the project to the public, and conduct an environmental impact assessment before a project is implemented, in her view.
Ecological Uprising’s leader Aleksandar Jovanović Ćuta assessed that Serbia is a ‘ticking ecological time bomb’ and called on students, environmental organisations, and all other citizens to get involved in the plan they presented.
Of note, in 2019, 13 out of 250 members of the parliament have signed the Green Party’s initiative to protect drinking water under the Constitution.
