Dean of the Faculty of Forestry: SHPP construction started due to state dilettante approach – Society

The dean of the Faculty of Forestry at the University of Belgrade, Ratko Ristic, assessed that the construction of mini hydroelectric power plants (SHPP) in Serbia began “with a dilettante approach, based on documents from the eighties”, that its development was seen stopped exclusively by local activism and not by state intervention.

He, as a guest at Utisak nedelja, stated that the construction of 856 SHPP, as envisaged by said plan of the last century, would provide Serbia with two to three percent of energy, but would destroy “rivers that are carriers of the biodiversity of the mountains”.

“(The SHPP construction) is being carried out so that a small group of investors and equipment suppliers and (other members) of that interest group benefit. They are still paid 10 to 14 euro cents per kilowatt- hour, and so far 50 to 60 million euros have been paid for electricity from renewable energy sources. We all pay for that, and no one asked the citizens of Serbia if they wanted to pay for it, “Ristic said.

According to him, the State must exclusively promote “what brings a clear public benefit.”

Ristic believes that it is encouraging that the pressure for the construction of SHPP has dropped, but that it must be formalized and articulated through laws.

Speaking of the “Jadar” project of the Rio Tinto company, which plans to produce lithium near Loznica, the dean of the faculty said that it would cover more than 2,000 hectares of land, and that the “poor” project would raise between seven and eight million euros. annual euros. sum “.

“It is a miserable sum for the loss of so much land.” We still don’t know what impact (the project) will have on the environment. “It would deprive the company of the right to order an Environmental Impact Assessment Study,” Ristic said, adding that the document should be drafted by Serbia with the help of independent experts.

Aleksandar Jovanović Ćuta from the association “Let’s defend the rivers of Stara Planina” asked the state leaders to present to the public the experiences of the countries where the company carried out the excavations.

“Those scenes are apocalyptic. Dynamite mercilessly destroyed 46,000-year-old aboriginal caves. They are people who only see profit in our rivers and in nature … We have to make a plan, we have no more time to wait, we know who is poisoning our air who is putting rivers in our pipes. During that time, our forests are disappearing, our drinking water is disappearing, “said Jovanović.

He added that in the four years he has been involved in activism against the construction of SHPP, “everyone from academics to pastors,” has declared.

“Last year, SANU organized a symposium, dozens of studies were carried out, and those who live off its rivers, who were not asked anything. (Investors) need to see who they have agreed with what, the law, the legal profession, the natural science profession is asking. “If all of that is not in accordance with the law and disturbs the environment, the people who live there are also wondering,” Jovanović said.

Dragana Djordjevic, scientific advisor to the Institute of Chemistry, stated that Serbia committed itself in the Paris Agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but that of all the options for renewable energy sources, it applied only the construction of SHPP, which could jeopardize water supplies.

He said that he became interested in the topic in 2018, when he was working on the investigation of the water supply problem in Vlasotince.

“With 15 of the 55 planned SHPs built in the area of ​​Vlasotince (that municipality), it had problems with the water supply,” Djordjevic said, adding that environmental goals must be achieved first by increasing energy efficiency.

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