Supporting the Implementation of EU Obligations and MEAs through Integrated Pollution Monitoring in the Western Balkans

In 2017, theItalian Ministry of Environment, Land and Sea continued to support the Republic of Serbia through a regional initiative in the Western Balkans. Building on the concreteresults of previous cooperation and efforts of UN Environment/GEF funded project “Enhanced Cross-sectoral Land Management through Land Use Pressure Reduction and Planning”, the Serbian component  of this initiative focuses on setting up a soil quality monitoring system for the targeted industrial sites suspected to be contaminated.

This component aims to provide the Ministry of Environmental Protection of Serbia, the Serbian Environmental Protection Agency and the local authorities of Šabac and Loznica with a preliminary study,sampling, and remediationplan for the abandoned chemical industries of “Zorka – non-ferrous metallurgy” in Šabac and “Viskoza” in Loznica. Site Characterization Plans and Safety Plans will be developed to instruct on pilot remediation on selected area and as a basis for further actions in the near future.

The support is being provided by the following Italian national specialized institutions:

• Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA) is in charge for development of the two Site Characterization Plans and provision of related training, and
• Institute for Insurance Against Accidents at Work (INAIL) isin charge for the development of Safety Plan for detailed investigations.