ON CERTAIN ISSUES OF FINANCING ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AT THE LEVEL OF LOCAL GOVERNMENTS IN THE REPUBLIC OF SERBIA

Sustainable development is a political concept that brings with it numerous practical and realistic challenges, with special emphasis on those related to the provision, direction and release of resources for the implementation of such a policy. Therefore, the financing of environmental protection is marked as one of the most important issues in the environmental management system, not only in formal strategic documents. In the area of economic instruments for environmental protection at the local level, transparency has been increased and revenue collection and control procedures have been significantly facilitated. Whilst there are indications that ambitious investments are being made in environmental protection, the functionality of the so-called environmental compensations as economic instruments remains questionable. Large polluters should be fiscally affected more severely, and the destination of this revenue for environmental purposes in the budgets of local self-government units should be considered. This is the only path to enable this instrument to produce its "environmental" and not only its fiscal dimension.Publishe