Rio Tinto, the world's second biggest mining company, has spent the last years coveting a lithium mining project in Serbia. Exploratory drills have already produced leaks, soiling crops and underground water in their wake. Meanwhile, president Aleksander Vučić has been one of the mine's most fervent cheerleaders, attempting to force through a law facilitating expropriations and weakening referenda standards.
But Serbian citizens are increasingly mobilising against it. Last week, mass demonstrations led the president to suspend such laws. Despite this, people are continuing to pour into the streets of Belgrade to demand the laws be dropped.
Our Serbian correspondents, Milica Šarić and Jelena Knežević, report live in Belgrade on the growing backlash against the project, while Natalie Sauer and Angelina Davydova talk to Savo Manojlović, the campaign director of one of the protests' organisers, Kreni Promeni.
At the time of recording Rio Tinto had not returned our requests for comment.
The Eurasian Climate Brief is a new podcast dedicated to climate news in the region stretching from Eastern Europe and Russia down to Caucasia and Central Asia.
This episode is hosted by:
Join us for a regional perspective on this historic climate summit. Follow the Eurasian Climate Brief now in your favourite podcast app.
Find more news from us at: www.twitter.com/EurasianClimate
Rio Tinto, the world's second biggest mining company, has spent the last years coveting a lithium mining project in Serbia. Exploratory drills have already produced leaks, soiling crops and underground water in their wake. Meanwhile, president Aleksander Vučić has been one of the mine's most fervent cheerleaders, attempting to force through a law facilitating expropriations and weakening referenda standards.
But Serbian citizens are increasingly mobilising against it. Last week, mass demonstrations led the president to suspend such laws. Despite this, people are continuing to pour into the streets of Belgrade to demand the laws be dropped.
Our Serbian correspondents, Milica Šarić and Jelena Knežević, report live in Belgrade on the growing backlash against the project, while Natalie Sauer and Angelina Davydova talk to Savo Manojlović, the campaign director of one of the protests' organisers, Kreni Promeni.
At the time of recording Rio Tinto had not returned our requests for comment.
The Eurasian Climate Brief is a new podcast dedicated to climate news in the region stretching from Eastern Europe and Russia down to Caucasia and Central Asia.
This episode is hosted by:
Join us for a regional perspective on this historic climate summit. Follow the Eurasian Climate Brief now in your favourite podcast app.
Find more news from us at: www.twitter.com/EurasianClimate