Pilot Project Summary - Serbia and Montenegro Bor, Serbia and Montenegro: Demonstration Project NGO: Association of Young Researchers Bor Project Leader: Toplica Marjanovic Project Background Bor is a mining industrial center in east Serbia, S&? in which industrial discharges and domestic sewage pollute water currents, river coasts, and surroundings – particularly in the Bor and Krivelj Rivers. Wastewater from Bor endangers the county of Bor, as well as other river-based communities in Serbia and Bulgaria, significantly influencing the quality of water in the West Balkans and Danube Basin. However, authorities lack the money, equipment, and information to facilitate the control of water quality, even though technologies to improve the situation are known and applied in other countries, and local stakeholders have shown interest in the past in putting environmental issues on the public agenda (including the adoption of a Local Environmental Action Plan (LEAP) and a District Environment Action Plan (DEAP) in 2003 and 2004 respectively). Project Activities In order to address issues of public awareness of wastewater problems and the means by which to increase public participation in the resolution of these problems, the Association of Young Researchers Bor will undertake a number of targeted activities: 1. Network with relevant stakeholders and raise public awareness by: inviting relevant stakeholders to discuss the current situation, and talk about potential solutions at a roundtable and publishing the information generated; and creating a wastewater/drinking water information database, complete with mailing lists, discussion forums to increase the access to and flow of relevant water-related information between interested parties. 2. Work towards improving the access to and dissemination of water related information from authorities to the public by: creating collection points for gathering, processing and distributing information which will be run by the Association of Young Researchers Bor for a year, after which point municipal authorities will take an active role in point maintenance; and enabling stakeholders to choose candidates for training on both the Water Framework Directive and the Aarhus Convention in terms of regional and national level implementation, funding pending. It is hoped that the lessons learned in this experience will be incorporated into other municipalities facing similar problems in Serbia and Montenegro.

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