Serbia exploits least natural resources in region

ZAGREB - Serbia exploits the least amount of natural resources in the Western Balkans, where the biggest demand on the environment comes from Slovenia, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) says in its latest report.

Using a benchmark system of per capita ‘ecological footprints', showing the impact of human demand on nature, WWF lists Croatia as having the least sustainable footprint in the Balkans (1.86) - which means that it consumes almost twice what the eco-system can provide.

The ‘Living Planet' report for 2014 says that Bosnia-Herzegovina's footprint is 1.46 and only Serbia, whose footprint is 1.43, exploits fewer natural resources, but still too much to make Earth's eco-system sustainable.

While Serbia's demand on the environment is identical to the global average, Slovenia's is much higher, a footprint of 2.64, and Macedonia's footprint is 1.7.

The survey, conducted every two years, shows that the world's ‘ecological footprint' continues to grow and that the Humanity currently needs the regenerative capacity of 1.5 Earths to provide the ecological goods and services it uses each year.

The report lists Kuwait, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Denmark, Belgium, Trinidad and Tobago, Singapore, the United States, Bahrain and Sweden as 10 countries with the greatest per capita ecological footprint.

Photo Tanjug/J. Pap (illustration)