SBB Foundation chief says public more aware of environment

Jovana Lukić
N1

SBB Foundation CEO Jovana Lukic told N1 on Monday that the Serbian public is increasingly aware of the importance of protecting the environment.

Speaking on International Day of Forests, Lukic recalled the SBB Foundation’s efforts to plant trees across Serbia. “We have been making a gift of trees to the towns where we planted them … species of trees that have always been present here and we are preserving biodiversity,” she said.

She said that the Foundation invited applications from local administrations, organizations and institutions who have experience with forestation and can secure land for more than 500 saplings in each area. “We can be satisfied with the number of applications and the number of saplings planted,” she said.

“We are almost finished because we only have Gracanica and Belgrade left. We started in Belgrade and we will end up in Belgrade having planted more than 13,000 saplings across the country … in 17 locations,” Lukic said, and added that everyone was prepared to help.

According to Lukic, the SBB Foundation first got involved in protecting the environment in 2015. “A lot of people didn’t understand why we were involved, especially since this was coming from a telecommunications operator. People are becoming more aware and are coming up with their own ideas whenever we organize something… Our goal is to make pople aware and point out the positive aspects of preserving the environment,” she said.

Lukic said that children are the best audience. “They’re little sponges absorbing everything, seeing injustice, saying what’s wrong in their environment and carrying what they take in through the rest of their lives. They are the most important in our fight for awareness,” she said.

She called the public to join in other SBB Foundation activities to save the environment.