Vladan Joldžić1
Institute of Criminological and Sociological Research, Belgrade, Serbia Ana Batrićević2
Institute of Criminological and Sociological Research, Belgrade, Serbia Vera Stanković3
Institute of Criminological and Sociological Research, Belgrade, Serbia Nikola Paunović4
Institute of Criminological and Sociological Research, Belgrade, Serbia and PhD candidate, University of Belgrade, Faculty of Law
OBJECTIVES
The paper highlights key problems of rural development in the context of economic and environmental crisis, with focus on rural areas in Serbia. It emphasizes the link between sustainable rural development and environmental protection, particularly in the fields of organic agriculture, small organic farming and agro-eco tourism. It analyses legislative and strategic documents regulating this issue on universal, European and national level, making suggestions to improve their application.
METHODOLOGY
Content analysis was applied with the purpose to define sustainable rural development and key problems that appear in this field - worldwide as well as in rural areas in Serbia. It was also applied to analyse the relation between the success and sustainability of rural development on one hand and the effective conservation of environment and its elements such as air, water and soil on the
1 PhD, Principle Research Fellow, e-mail: [email protected] 2 PhD, Research Fellow, e-mail: [email protected] 3 MsC, Research Assistant, e-mail: [email protected] 4 Research Intern, e-mail: [email protected]
other. Doctrinal legal research method was used to critically examine the provisions of legal strategic documents directly or indirectly related to sustainable rural development and environmental protection. Comparative legal research method was applied to explore the approaches to this issue in documents adopted on European level (by the European Union) as well as of those adopted by the United Nations
RESULTS
Obstacles for sustainable rural development include: uncultivated agricultural lands, soil pollution, insufficient irrigation or draining, agricultural lands fragmentation, poor infrastructure, inadequate tax policy, uncompleted restitutions, long probate proceedings and financially uncertain position of land- owners. Some of them have environmental impacts and can be resolved by suitable policy and legislation, strategic planning, environmental education and financial stimuli for green agriculture.
IMPLICATIONS
The paper has implications for legislators and policy makers in the areas such as: sustainable development, taxes, agriculture, green economy and environment protection to analyse more profoundly key problems of rural (as ecologically desirable) development and their linkage to nature conservation. When it comes to practice, it suggests which legal documents should be applied in order to achieve not only successful but also sustainable and environmentally acceptable development of rural areas.
ORIGINALITY VALUE
The paper contributes to a better understanding of the relationship between sustainable rural development and environment protection, emphasizing the possibility to preserve nature and increase incomes of rural communities through green agriculture, small farm production and eco-tourism. It also states that current legislative framework provides preconditions for resolving the issues that might appear within, suggesting key steps for its future implementation.
KEY WORDS
Sustainable development, rural development, agriculture, eco-tourism, environment protection, ecology, green economy
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