On March 4, 2016, ENV.net team from Macedonia organised a meeting to officially sign the contracts with Vila Zora from Veles and Planetum from Strumica, the two awarded applicants from the restricted call for proposals for the local CSOs, titled “Active Citizens for Greener Future”.
The two awarded projects (Think globally, act locally submitted by Vila Zora, Veles and Local campaign against climate change submitted by Planetum, Strumica)in this call were evaluated by the ENV.net partners and external assessors, as the most successful and in line with the ENV.net project overall aim.
The team used this opportunity for in-depth consultations with the sub-grantees, with focus on administrative and other technical procedures that need to be fulfilled by the implementing parties.
On March 22, World Water Day, TEMA Foundation’s volunteers have organized “Awareness for Water” events in all 81 cities of Turkey. 40.000 people in 81 cities and 124 different areas were reached through 44 water chain awareness walks, 66 stands/booths and information points, 87 education workshops (197 events in total).
The Map of Threats to Water Resources Was Published
As a part of World Water Day events (March, 22), TEMA Foundation has also published “The Map of Threats to Water Resources in Turkey” that has been prepared with the contributions of the volunteer representatives. The research was conducted through the last three months and has followed a bottom up participatory method. The issues and problems with water resources in Turkey were identified with the help of an online form, ensuring a systematic information flow from the volunteer representatives in 81 cities. So far 70 threats to water resources in 37 cities have been identified and revealed in a 82 page report.
Research by the European Environmental Bureau shows that approximately 130 000 EU citizens could die prematurely in the coming years because of a push by EU member states to weaken air quality laws.
Denmark, Romania, Poland, Italy, Spain, the UK and Bulgaria have been particularly vociferous in calling for lower emissions reduction targets, despite the clear impact of air pollution on human health and the environment. France and Germany, for example, seem preoccupied with protecting large-scale industrial farming, which produces high ammonia emissions and is responsible for around 30,000 of these deaths, rather than their citizens. [4]
In March, ATRC, as part of the ENV.net project activities selected three sub-grantee organizations that will implement three projects during the spring period. The projects to be implemented are:
Protecting rivers from pollution and degradation: the main objective of the Project aims to raise the awareness of institutions but also of citizen for environmental protection in general with specific focus on rivers in Gjakova, Peja and Rahovec (rivers Lumbardhi i Pejës, Drini e bardhë dhe Lumit Erenik)
Germia Yesterday and Today : through the activities of the project will identify properties built in occupied areas, identification of environmental degradation, waste management and generally park by the responsible authorities. Activities will be implemented in cooperation with NGOs and citizen sympathetic to the park, but also with other institutions).
Environment protection from unused medicines: the specific objective of the project is to raise the awareness of population about the health and environment risks of the disposal of unused medicines as normal waste.
A new Call for proposal is released by EU Delegation in FYROM: Support to Civil Society Organisations under the Civil Society Facility 2015 Civil Society Facility and Media, Multi-Beneficiary Programme 2015 under the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) Publication Reference: EuropeAid/151569/DD/ACT/MK. The call includes three priority areas:
Priority 1: Support to civil society horizontal measures;
Priority 2: Support to civil society in watchdog & monitoring to public institutions;
The EU’s assessment of what it needs to do on CO2 emissions between now and 2030 is far removed from the targets in the Paris Agreement.
The EU executive’s assessment of the global climate deal published in March 2016 failed to make any mention of the need to revise the EU’s 2030 targets to keep global warming below 2 Degrees C, let alone below the 1.5 Degrees C advised by Europe in Paris.
Instead, the Commission seems to be happy to float along and leave the world on track to experience at least 3 Degrees C or more of warming. NGOs, citizens, local authorities, trade unions, businesses, the electricity sector and faith groups increasingly call for the EU to bring its climate and energy policies in line with the Paris agreement.
Turkish Env.net Partner TEMA Foundation attended the “River Basin Management Commission Workshop” organized by General Directorate of State Hydraulic Works on March, 15.
All of the 130 participants were distributed the book “Liquid Assets: The Critical Need to Safeguard Freshwater Ecosystems” along with the TEMA Foundation Proposal of Law on Water, which were both printed with valuable contributions of Env.net. The participants were informed about the current water-related issues through the distributed print material.
Turkish Env.net Team gave a presentation on NGOs’ Role in River Basin Management Commissions, which emphasized the role of public participation in the planning process in EU River Basin Management Plans. Underlining the need for public participation in planning and implementation processes as well as River Basin Commissions, the participants were informed about the ways they can participate in the process.
The presentation was supported with examples of NGO participation in river basin studies and the positive outcomes of both TEMA and other NGOs’ participations.
Co-PLAN, Institute for Habitat Development during the month of March opened the restricted call for proposal for small grants for Environmental Organizations operating in Albania. The call under the title “Green Initiatives towards complying with EU environmental standards” will be awarded to organizations applying for advocacy awareness campaigns, monitoring platforms/tools, small innovative interventions and research studies on the following environmental aspects:
Water management
Nature protection
Climate change, and especially energy efficiency
Status of environmental legislation framework transposition, especially on the above mentioned environmental aspects
The deadline of the call is 13th of April 2016.
For more information please visit the website: env-net.org
On 04th of March ATRC participated in the Conference organized by Urban Research Institute (URI) in Kukes (Albania). Conference was part of the project Environmental Protection and Waste Management implemented jointly by ATRC and URI, implemented jointly by ATRC and URI and supported by European Commission Delegation in Albania. In this final conference results of the project activities were presented and recommendations for future needs. Objectives of this project is:
1: Stimulate sustainable economic development and environmental protection through promotion of recycling and waste management in the border region of Kosovo and Albania;
2: Empower cooperation and partnership amongst and between citizen, enterprises and institutions for preparing and implementing projects and joint initiatives.
In order to highlight the importance of preserving natural floodplains and forests, the Environmental Ambassadors for Sustainable Development, together with the Institute for Nature Conservation of Serbia, WWF-World Wide Fund for Nature, and Public Communal Enterprise “Greenery Belgrade” organised eco-workshop “Great War island and white-tailed eagle – symbols of preserved forests and waters of Belgrade” on 25 March 2016, at Kalemegdan, Belgrade.
At the workshop participants learned about the values of green oasis in urban areas, the importance of protection area of exceptional importance such as “Great War Island”, the importance of water in shaping and forming the present Great War Island and Kalemegdan, the richness of the natural world in the Great War Island, diversity of birds that can be seen in this oasis of Belgrade etc.
