Kikinda

Kikinda and ecology

Kikinda faces serious problems related to water supply and waste management. The quality of drinking water is a major concern due to high levels of arsenic, iron, manganese, and ammonia. While the water is technically safe for everyday activities like washing and cooking, it is not safe for direct consumption without prior treatment. Additional challenges include outdated infrastructure, poor raw water quality, and overexploitation of groundwater sources. Surface waters, such as local canals and rivers, are often polluted due to irresponsible waste disposal and the discharge of untreated wastewater.

Recycling is underdeveloped, and pilot projects involving primary waste sorting were not continued, indicating a lack of a long-term strategy. The problem of illegal dumps remains a challenge, although the number of registered landfills in Vojvodina has significantly decreased thanks to the efforts of relevant authorities. All these issues highlight the need for a systematic approach to solving the problems, including infrastructure modernization, raising public awareness, and implementing sustainable recycling and waste management projects.

Workshop

Kikinda students were initially a bit shy when it came time to talk about the environmental problems in their city. Still, a few brave souls stepped up to discuss and suggest ideas, facing real ecological “dragons” that bombarded them with problems! While clean drinking water has eluded them for over 30 years, there wasn’t enough water to extinguish the fiery issues… They share this burden with their neighbors in Zrenjanin, but they know that in Kikinda, there are peers who boldly confront these problems. They organize events like the “Can Fest” and the “Ponovo” (Again) movement, fighting to extinguish the environmental fires. So, yes, there are ecologists in Kikinda – they are just a bit quieter, but once they get going, it’s real action!

During the workshops, the students were given a task – to create a creative video where they chose one environmental problem in their city that bothers them the most and explained the best way we could solve it! You can check out the competition results at the following link: https://www.tiktok.com/@zeleni.sad?_t=8qe8gTVP0Kc&_r=1

Joint working meeting

Since one of the project’s priorities was connecting young people with a desire for activism, a joint working meeting was organized at our Green Co-working Center for this purpose. All the best teams gathered there, along with their peers from other cities and our expert team, to discuss solutions to environmental problems. During this meeting, the youth shared innovative ideas, exchanged experiences with their peers, and discussed opportunities for joint collaboration to address environmental issues in their communities, as most of these environmental problems are not isolated but shared among many of the participating cities.

The collaborative meeting sparked active discussions among the students about the problems in their communities. They shared their impressions and observations about the state of the environment in their cities, focusing on specific issues such as improper waste disposal, air pollution, and the lack of green spaces. Most students expressed a desire to contribute to their communities through education, organizing environmental actions, and involving the community.