National Parks
Serbia has nature reserves as well as regional and national parks.
Djerdap Gorge National Park: it is located in the east of the country, along the Danube, the border river that separates Serbia from Romania (Carpathians). It is home to one of the most visited sites in the country, the Iron Gates, as well as archaeological remains and historical sites.
: located in the west of the country, between the Dinaric Alps and the Drina, on the border with Bosnia-Herzegovina, it protects vast forest areas associated with an exceptional biodiversity and endemic species (Serbian spruce).Kopaonik National Park : located in the south of the country, it protects a part of the Kopaonik Mountains massif and shelters, within beautiful forests, a great diversity of fauna and flora.
A highly carbon-intensive energy mix
Lignite (low quality coal, more polluting in its extraction) provides about 70% of the country's electricity. It is produced in old thermal power plants (including the Nikola Tesla plant, supplied by the Kolubara mine), which emit high levels of pollutants (including sulphur dioxides), making Belgrade one of the most polluted capitals in Europe, with the health risks associated with this poor air quality. The activity also generates greenhouse gases in a country vulnerable to climate change. Serbia could indeed experience a greater frequency and intensity of extreme events: floods, landslides, droughts, forest fires, worsening soil erosion.
The impact of extractive activities
The country's subsoil is rich in many minerals that arouse the covetousness of foreign companies. For example, in 2018, a Chinese group bought copper mines in Bor, in the east of the country, in one of the most polluted regions of Serbia, where NGOs denounce the inaction of local authorities in the face of a deteriorating environmental and health situation. Lithium (used to make batteries) is also highly coveted. An Australian group has carried out prospecting in the Jadar valley, in the west of the country. Its exploitation could have irreversible effects on the natural environment: water pumping, generation of tons of waste, pollution. The discovery of this project gave rise to a very large protest movement in the country. After several months of resistance, the inhabitants won their case and the government stopped the project in January 2022.
The rise of ecology
The resistance to the lithium mining project highlighted the rise of environmental awareness in the country, driven by both rural (mining issue) and urban (more focused on air quality issues) populations. The environmental cause has been able to gather and demonstrate its strength, with major demonstrations organized in 2021. Other ecological struggles include climate change, the preservation of the banks of the Sava River in Belgrade, and the treatment of industrial waste from the Titian period. The issue of household waste is also a major concern. The dumps, often located near rivers, are discharged into them and cause significant pollution, with dramatic situations (Lake Priboj, Lake Potpeć).
