Although number 17 is on the cover, this is a small anniversary of our Magazine, given that it is the 10th issue since we redesigned our bulletin into Magazine and started printing it. With each new issue, we have grown and changed, so now in addition to the permanent columns, we have two new ones – Opinion and Confrontation in which distinguished experts present their views on very delicate topics. There is much debate about the presence of genetically modified food, which is banned in Serbia; thus, we kindly asked university professors Miladin Sevarlic and Vladimir Dimitrijevic to give us their judgement on an invention which was created as a solution to the problem of world hunger.
French Ambassador to Serbia Jean-Louis Falconi gladly shared with us the green experience of his country. In the building sector, France has set an ambitious renovation plan for old buildings, with a € 14bn fund dedicated to energy renovation. Ambassador Falconi revealed to us that at the beginning of 2019, the French government had established the mechanism enabling households to replace heating boilers for just € 1. We are giving you just a little detail from the interview you can read through in this issue.
A public call for grants for the development of innovative products, services and technologies has been published recently, thus with the professor Viktor Nedovic, PhD, Assistant Minister of Education, Science and Technological Development we discussed, among other things, the strategically important scientific projects financed by the state to preserve the environment.
With the Mayor of our capital, Professor Zoran Radojicic PhD, we talked about the problems of the city and what he is doing for Belgrade to become the Green Capital. The Mayor has recently launched a challenge Tree for Belgrade, with the idea of planting as many trees as possible to fulfil the goal of having 25 per cent of urban area covered with a green surface by 2025.
New tool for the fight against air pollution, AlgiOx is a smart, self-sustaining air generator which uses the power of microalgae for the production of oxygen and removal of harmful particles and gases from the air, and the young creators of this invention have explained to us how it works.
In this issue, we have two inspirational stories from the region. The first one is about the best Croatian diver, Goran Colak, a man who pushes boundaries both in diving and in raising awareness on the need for personal responsibility in waste management. The other story is about a company from Bosnia and Herzegovina, named Enova, that has developed a tool for smart urban planning. Their software allows dynamic calculation of airflow and dispersion of pollutants in space and time in real orography.
Since this issue came out just before winter holidays, you will have enough of free time to devote yourself to other compelling stories from the Magazine. We wish you happy holidays, and we hope that in the next year we will do more to preserve nature than we have managed so far!
