Summary:
The Green Agenda for the Western Balkans aims to reflect the European Green Deal in a proportionate and adapted manner in the Western Balkans. The objective is to turn environmental and climate challenges, similar throughout the region, into opportunities. Given that natural resources and climate change do not know borders, the Green Agenda foresees joint actions that will contribute to the sustainable socio-economic development and green recovery of the entire region in the post-pandemic period.
Kosovo should contribute by successfully implementing this joint regional vision with a high level of ambition. Like all Western Balkans, Kosovo endorsed the Green Agenda for the Western Balkans at the Sofia Summit in November 2020. The European Green Deal demands a complete transformation of the national economy, transportation, and many more factors. As such, it also depends on a national consensus about the green future of our country.
Many activities and campaigns have been launched regarding the state of the environment in Kosovo. However, nothing seems to have made an impact in terms of raising societal awareness about the risks that the environment is facing. Yet, citizens experience environmental threats at first hand every day, starting from the denial of the basic human right of access to clean drinking water to the ongoing damage of Kosovo’s natural landscape, often through illegal business activities.
Insufficient education, unimplemented laws, weak environmental policy and media misinformation all contribute to ongoing environmental degradation. There are dozens of lawsuits against polluters in Kosovo who continue to operate without any legal intervention, mostly because they are not reported by the media or seen as important by the authorities.
This project aims to enhance implementation of the legal basis for proper environmental protection for national parks by increasing the efficiency of this mechanism through good management, conducting fact-based and specialised research on the environment, in this way informing citizens about environmental concerns and so holding relevant institutions accountable.
Donor:
National Democratic Institute (NDI)
Main Objectives:
Objective 1: advocate the revision and strengthening of the legal basis for environmental protected areas and watercourses.
Objective 2: identify and expose environmental violations and corruption related to protected areas in order to increase transparency and accountability.
Objective 3: Increase efficiency through legal frameworks and good management in order to lower the possibilities of further environmental exploitation and land deterioration.
Main Activities:
- Establish the Coalition’s project team, hold the first coordination meeting with partner organizations, and initiate research in five different areas of environmental concern, to develop a baseline assessment of environmental violations.
- Research on five different areas of environmental concern to develop a baseline assessment of environmental violations and hold a launch conference to raise public awareness, share research findings and promote greater government transparency and accountability.
- Public TV debate with the purpose of raising visibility of relevant environmental issues to promote greater government transparency and accountability.
- Roundtable discussions, draft policy briefs, and creating and designing an educational video to promote greater efficiency through legal frameworks and good management to prevent further environmental exploitation and land deterioration.
- Two roundtable discussion and a strategic planning session with key lawmakers to discuss project findings and promote greater transparency, accountability and responsiveness in environmental governance.
Target Groups:
- Civil Society Organizations CSOs
- Media and multidisciplinary experts in the field from different ethnic backgrounds
- Kosovo parliamentary working groups on Environment and Health Concerns, Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Health
- Basic Court in Mitrovica
- Citizens of Kosovo
Main implementer:
BIRN Kosovo
Partners:
Democracy Plus
Advocacy Center for Democratic Culture
Association of Journalists of Kosovo (AJK)
Udruženje Goraždevac Media Group