The First Stakeholder Conference on River Basin Management Planning

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.