Advocacy Training and Resource Centre (ATRC) in cooperation with the Regional Environment Centre – REC, within the regional project, Env Net, organized the conference on the topic: “Managing forests and measures undertaken to prevent illegal logging”.
In this round table participated officials from 11 Kosovo municipalities which are the most affected from the phenomenon of logging with no criterion, such as: Podujeva, Vushtrria, Istogu, Peja, Deçani, Juniku, Kaçaniku, Ferizaj, Vitia, Kamenica and Hani i Elezit and representatives from the Government of Kosovo, respectively the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Development and the Kosovo Forest Agency.
The representatives of Kosovo Municipalities, in their presentations showed the severe situation of forests, and the obstacles and challenges they face in the protection of forests which are related to limited budget, limited and mixed responsibilities, lack of good cooperation between the Ministry, the Agency and municipalities, lack of court, police and prosecution efficiency in handling the cases and prosecuting illegal loggers.
Representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Development and the Kosovo Forest Agency emphasized the successes, and the challenges they face in implementing the Law on Kosovo Forests, specifically, protecting forests from further deterioration. As they said, decentralization of competences for protection of forests to the municipalities was a request of the municipalities and was considered to be positive although the poor management of National Parks by the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning remains an issue.
Monitoring the implementation of this Law by the Committee on Environment of the Assembly of the Republic of Kosovo should be a priority, since monitoring would show the level of implementation, the reasons for failure to implement and the changes to be made in the current law.
In the month of January 2015, the ENV.net partner in the FYROM, 4x4x4 Balkan Bridges, was focused on preparation activities for the second phase of the ENV.net project (2015-2016). To this purpose, it was dedicated to collect information on the EU progress reports for Macedonia from 2008 to 2014 and relevant information on the national environmental legislation related to the selected topics (climate change and waters) which, in the next period, will be used for identification of the progress/gaps with regard to the approximation to EU acquis.
In addition, a brochure, as wrap-up of the first phase of the project, printed in Macedonian, Albanian and English languages, was presented and distributed to the key target groups (civil society organisations, governmental authorities and media representatives). This was used as an opportunity to present the second phase of the ENV.net project and its objectives. In the communication with local CSOs, 4x4x4BB stressed the need for finalisation of the registration process of the Green Consortium, as a more organised form of CSOs for their pro-active participation in the monitoring process of Country’s approximation to the EU acquis.
This policy paper aims at describing the legislation and institutional framework of the sector of Water
Management Resources in Albania (river basins, marine water resources, surface and underground
water resources), as a Candidate country.
Albania is a country, whose water surface and ground water resources far exceed their usage. Most of economic activities relay on utilization of water resources, where over 90% of energy production comes from Hydro Power Plants (HPPs), and agriculture fully depends on irrigation. Also other sectors of economy like mining, industrial sector and tourism are also relayed on clean and sufficient fresh water resources. But it is rare to not encounter heavy pollution of water resources, especially when compared with the plentiful freshwater resources. These problems of quality are exacerbated by a growing demand for limited water resources in some parts of the country. A comprehensive and sufficient monitoring system is missing, followed by a weak regulatory and financial framework together with the lack of a long-term strategy, which should act as a schedule for all activities and projects in the water sector. Given the situation, the country has a fragile and fragmented management of water resources.
Co-PLAN in the framework of the ENV.net concluded the first phase of the project by launching two publications related to different environmental issues.
The first publication, Co-PLAN Gazette (GAZETTE_English) (GAZETTE_Albanian), was dedicated to all ENV.net activities and contributions from the CSOs actors to energy efficiency issues. It covers the latest developments of the second half of 2014, with particular focus on the area of energy efficiency. Aspects like the importance of a multi-sectoral approach in addressing the issues and benefits of energy efficiency, a picture of the current state of the housing stock today, and recommendations for the promotion and enhancement of energy rehabilitation practices this stock. In this Gazette, you will also read about a number of green acts undertaken in several local communities with the help of civil society organizations within the ENV.net project.
The Second publication was on the assessment of public services performance, by citizens, in the city of Tirana (Performance Assessment). This publication was developed in collaboration with students from POLIS University and ENV.net team in Albania as a reflection and summary of the the questionnaire development by the students in different parts of Tirana city. The aim of the questionnaire was to assess public services performance in the city of Tirana, quality life and citizens priorities for better services. As you can see through the publication, the city was divided in different areas, where citizens were asked on several issues as: a) street cleanliness level; b) technical issues related to waste collection, as frequency and distance of waste containers; c) satisfaction related to green areas; d) quality of public transport and frequency of transport lines; e) quality and level of water supply in the city; f) quality of public air in the city; g) availability of bicycle roads in the city and possibility to travel by bicycle, etc.
This booklet is divided into two sections. One being “Methodology for effective advocacy, with step-by-step guidance” and another one “Advocacy tools, a glossary and model examples of position papers”. What is advocacy and what are different steps for strategic advocacy planning – these are issues which you will find in this new publication. The booklet ends with a few practical examples how position papers look like.
We truly hope that this small toolkit will help you in developing your campaigns to protect our common environment.
During the month of January 2015, ENV.net team Serbia organized several promotions of the publication titled “Environment to Europe”.
Publication consists of introduction, interview with ENV.net coordinator for Serbia, and 13 scientific papers. All papers that were published were previously presented at the EnE14/ENV.net conference that was organized in June 2014 in Belgrade. This publication was produced with the financial assistance of the European Union through ENV.net project and by the Ministry of Agriculture and Environmental Protection of the Republic of Serbia.
Two day seminar on effective negotiation competencies has been organized by TEMA Foundation for Env.net stakeholders from civil society with the support of Baltas Management, Training and Consultancy.
The aim of the seminar was to provide participants negotiation skills that will help build more effective synergies both personally and as part of a team.
To obtain positive results from negotiation processes, one must recognize his/her own negotiation style and realize hos this effects the counterpart. Roundtables and meetings throughout the Env.net project’s first phase demonstrate the need to build competencies in this area for involved stakeholders.
Participation was also open to interested NGOs that don’t work on environment to create a platform to understand the work of NGOs across different fields and define areas for cooperation.
16 participants from various organizations working on environment, health, youth, education and civil society attended the seminar. Evaluation forms indicate close to 100% satisfaction.
To wrap-up the first phase of the project, the team prepared a brochure that presents the achievements of the first year of ENV.net in Macedonia, but also promotes the key objectives of the next phase of the project. The brochure, printed in Macedonian and Albanian, will be presented and distributed to key target groups (civil society organisations, governmental authorities and media representatives) during February.
The ENV.net team from Macedonia hopes that the good cooperation established in 2014 will continue in the next two years (2015-2016), with a common goal: to provide a stronger voice to citizens in protecting the environment for the well-being of present and future generations!
This flyer is presenting our ENV.net intention of giving “hot sweet chestnut” in their citizens hands, with the title of the flyer “The KEY is in your hands” representing a clear message for all of us especially for CSOs and citizens… if we like to be part of EU family – than ENV.net KEY in their hands can “open–un lock” EU door!
On 22 December 2014 in Tetovo ENV.net Macedonia organised a working meeting with the NGO members of the Platform for Green Macedonia. At the meeting attended representatives from Kavadarci, Kumanovo, Veles, Skopje and Tetovo, and from several local organisations from Tetovo.
The meeting was devoted to issues related to climate change. It started with a short introduction about the terms of climate change, followed by a brief presentation of the conclusions of the Conference of the UN COP20 held from 1 to 12 December, 2014 in Lima – Peru. It is interesting to note that there were no representatives from the Balkans, which in a way speaks about the interest of Balkan countries on climate change, both by the competent institutions and non-governmental organisations. Also, there was a brief presentation of the World map of countries – worst polluters and countries that contribute least to pollution globally.
Related to the situation in Macedonia, participants were given a short presentation of the map of Macedonia ant its cities and regions that are the major polluters against cities and regions that contribute least to the pollution. The question of where we are and what we have done about the climate change, the answer is: we have “done” a lot, but on paper. Macedonia has prepared and distributed its third National Plan on climate change – and more or less that’s about all. Too much paper, suggestions, changes and amendment – without action and concrete results! Attendees discussed specific measures to combat climate change associated with some of the “hot spots” referred to in the Platform for Green Macedonia which relate mainly to air pollution as the biggest “producer “of CO2 .
The last part of the working meeting was used to specify the procedures and the next steps for the establishment of the Green Consortium. It was decided to incorporate all the comments on the proposed text and in the beginning of next year to complete all the necessary documents for its official registration.
