A
good quality and quantity of water is the basis for drinking water for
everybody as well as for the needs of agriculture and industry. Additionally,
rivers and lakes are important for recreation and tourism as well as for
natural habitats and biodiversity. Therefore, management of the valuable water
resource is a key issue for the sustainable future.
The
Water Framework Directive (WFD) asks EU Member States to ensure good status of
all water and provides guidance for the balance between protection and usage of
water. The Republic of Serbia, as an Accessing State to the EU, started to
develop a River Basin Management Plan for the period 2021-20127. A central part
of the planning process is active involvement of all parties affected by this
topic, i.e. all water users.
On
December 17, 2019, the first Stakeholder Conference was held in Belgrade in
order to present and discuss the main topics and challenges concerning water
resource management as well as the planning process in Serbia.
In
the centre of the lively discussions with numerous representatives from
agriculture, industry, municipalities as well as NGOs and water providers were
the two background documents foreseen by the Water Framework Directive as the
basis for the further planning process. The are “The Work Programme and
Timetable for the development of the River Basin Management Plan in the
Republic of Serbia 2021-2027” as well as the “Report on Significant Water
Management Issues in the Republic of Serbia”.
The
conference and the documents have been prepared by the Serbian water management
bodies in close cooperation with experts from Austria, Germany and the
Netherlands in the frame of the EU
financed Project “Support to policy planning in water management sector”. The
background documents are available at: http://www.rdvode.gov.rs/javne-rasprave-plan-upravljanja-vodama.php.