INDEX QUALITY AIR (IQA), EDUCATION AND SCIENCE IN THE WESTERN BALKAN COUNTRIES AND THEIR EU PERSPECTIVE

Climate change is considered to be the biggest global problem at the beginning
of the 21st century, and the negative impacts of anthropogenic and climate
change on human health are greatly attracting the attention of the World Health Organization
(WHO), as well as the activities of EU commissions to reduce environmental
pollution and protect human health. In addition to the global greenhouse gas
problem due to the predominant impact of CO2 and NO2 emissions, air quality due to a
number of other pollutants: SO2, NOx, Ozone, Methane, Benzene, PM10, etc. created by
industry, is most commonly measured by the Air Quality Index (IQA). The correlation
between IQA and Gross Domestic Product – GDP (nominal) per capita has been identified
as a reliable indicator of the standard of living of people in a country. It is also an
indisputable fact that the economy of a country depends to a large extent on the quality
of education, and above all on university education and science, as a basis for scientific
innovation and progress of the country. The Western Balkans (WB) countries
have been facing economic problems for a long period of time and have put the ruling
elites in education – especially university and science, in the second palace. This situation
puts this country in an unequal position with respect to the developed world.
The consequences of such a situation are subsidies to foreign investors who install
obsolete and trivial IQA-enhancing technologies in WB, which is contrary to the environmental
requirements of WHO and the EU. These facts put the WB countries in an
inferior position and hamper their path to European integration and EU membership.