International round-table conference, under the title Destructive Impacts on Life and Natural Resources in the Southeast Europe in the Last Decade of the Twentieth Century organized by the International Scientific Forum “Danube – River of Cooperation” and the Institute of International Politics and Economics, in Belgrade on January 31st, 2001.

On the basis of exchange of their expertise knowledge, the participants gave a general assessment of the overall impact of war destruction and other forms of environmental degradation in the Region in the last decade of the twentieth century.

On this evaluation basis, we are going to continue exchanging the expertise findings and research results related to the discussed issues, aiming to prepare the grounds for the proposals of interregional projects, relevant to this topic and region, with a parallel
elaboration of a series of national, regional and specific thematic sub-projects.

It has been concluded, on the basis of the information so far available about the situation concerning Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, that there is no reason for such anxiety as expressed by the public in relation to the consequences of the use of depleted uranium. Therefore, the title “Balkan Syndrome” is unjustified, in particular because the same disease was earlier named “Golf War Syndrome”. It is obvious that this syndrome moves with those who are producing, handling and are in other ways in contact with ammunition and weapons containing Uranium.

However, at the conference we did express a deep concern about the neglecting of other serious ecological problems and the so far inadequate systematic population health assessment, in particular in so called “hot spots”, like Pančevo, Novi Sad, Bor, Kragujevac, as well as many locations on Kosovo.

Forty three experts and representatives of NGO-s took part in the conference and some members of the diplomatic community in Belgrade were present as well. Additionally, numerous local and international experts and eco-activists have joined the discussion via Internet (e-mail conference). The participants were acquainted with the message sent by Mr. Pekka Haavisto, the leader of the UNEP expert team, that conducted the first assessment of ecological damages caused by NATO bombardment of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

At the meeting eight introductory papers were presented, which covered a wide spectrum of themes. Besides that, important contributions to the analysis of various problems were given in the follow up discussions, along with a series of initiatives and suggestions for the
future work.

Especially highlighted suggestions:

• The International Scientific Forum “Danube – River of Cooperation” and the Institute of International Politics and Economics should jointly prepare interregional projects, targeted towards resolving the accumulated environmental problems, based on wide participation of independent experts, local communities and NGO-s.
• Emphasising the need for the improvement of education and the expansion of ecological consciousness, the participants supported the initiative to continue the work of the scientific-educational and expertise seminar under the title Universitas Danubiana, with the participation of local and international professors, linking it to the Tempus programme.
• It is necessary to form as soon as possible the Ministry of Environment, acknowledging the opinion of the President of the Government of Serbia Mr. Zoran Đinđić, that it is necessary to modernize and structurally reorganize that ministerial resort. As pointed out, since the Stability Pact for Southeast Europe is already active, the institutional vacuum caused by the lack of the competent ministry hinders the effective inclusion of organizations and initiatives like ours into the necessary and urgent sanation programmes for these serious environmental problems in the region, in particular
  after the NATO intervention.
• International Scientific Forum “Danube – River of Cooperation” will initiate the joining of other NGO-s and the professional community of our country to campaigns already launched in the world to ban, on the level of international legal sanctioning, the use and production of ammunition with depleted uranium.
• The participants agreed to meet again on May 11-12. 2001, in order to assess the results of the initiatives and suggestions from this Announcement.
• It is necessary to inform the wide public, local as well as the international, including the official bodies and institutions and the non-governmental sector about the conclusions of this conference. As emphasized in particular, this Announcement should be sent to the President of the Government of Republic of Serbia Mr. Zoran Đinđić.

Some of the articles presented at the conference:

• Evaluation of Soil Pollution at the Oil Refinery Site by Biljana Škrbić , Nataša Đurišić-Mladenović and Jelena Cvejanov
• Current Problems Regarding the Protection of the “Balta Nera – Danube” Wetland by Ilie Chincea and Ilie Odorescu
• Sustainable Use of Danube’s Natural Resources through Creation of The Biosphere Reserve “Iron Gates – Đerdap” by Ilie Chincea
• Impact of Ecological Information on Investment Decision-Making in International Financial Organizations by Predrag Bjelić
• Possible Impacts of Depleted Uranium (DU) Ammunition on Health and Environment by
  Dragana Popović, Gordana Đurić and Dragana Todorović