Environmental organizations’ appeal to Vučić, Brnabić: Accelerate shift to climate neutral economy

Nine environmental civil society organizations have asked the Serbian authorities to postpone any decision making that is not immediately relevant to the health of the people and proposed to accelerate the shift towards an economy that is climate neutral, protects nature, health and wellbeing, and lets nothing go to waste.

An appeal to the President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić, prime minister Ana Brnabić, and president of the National Assembly Maja Gojković was sent by WWF Adria – Serbia, Safer Chemicals Alternative – Alhem, the Bird Protection and Study Society of Serbia, One Degree Serbia, Environment Engineering Group, Belgrade Open School, Climate Action Network Europe, Environment Improvement Centre and Young Researches of Serbia, according to the press release by WWF.

Organizations urge the government to postpone making any decisions that are not immediately relevant to the people’s health and safety

In a letter, the organizations bring forth several recommendations that they say would help accelerate the shift towards an economy which is climate neutral, protects and restores our natural world, health and wellbeing, and lets nothing go to waste – in a way that is fair and leaves no-one behind:

• Uphold and strengthen the implementation and funding of existing environmental standards and policies to address the climate crisis, biodiversity loss, and environmental pollution.
• Invest in awareness raising and education in human rights, sustainable development and nature conservation, strengthening our society to face future challenges.
• Secure that the distribution of stimulus and state aid is conditional on compliance with the European Green Deal and the Paris accord, in order to drive the transformation of our economy towards sustainability.
• Launch large-scale sustainable initiatives in line with public interest.
• Provide support to (local) civil society organizations.

Meaningful, consistent and continued application of transparency and good governance is paramount in these challenging times to avoid the erosion of human rights, the rule of law and democratic decision making in our society, WWF said.

The organizations added they acknowledge that decision makers are working in extreme conditions caused by the coronavirus, but still urged the government to postpone making any decisions that are not immediately relevant to the health and safety of the people and for which it can’t secure transparency and public participation.