Tag: No Filter

A year has passed since the North Macedonia Minister of Economy Kreshnik Bekteshi stated that the import of used cars in North Macedonia below the EURO 5 standard for gas emissions will be banned. He announced that the ban of cars older than 10 years will start in 2021, but toward the end of last year, the Ministry of...

At the UN's Climate Change Conference (COP 26), 104 states have agreed to cut down the emissions of methane gas into the atmosphere by at least 30% by 2030. This gas is held up in the atmosphere much less than the carbon dioxide, but methane has the potential to heat up 80 times higher than the CO2 in a...

With the lower daily temperatures and the rise of the number of days with polluted air in Macedonian cities, the issue with the sources of emission of hazardous gases that are creating this problem is being opened again. The latest data provided by the State Statistical Office shows that the traffic is the biggest consumer of petrol products in...

The number of registered vehicles in the country's passenger transport is on the rise and with it, the average age is also on the rise which is especially causing concern regarding the cars. In 2020, the country has for the first time in its history evidenced over half a million registered passenger and towed vehicles i.e. a total of...

The past 2021 was a year that was marked by the ongoing development of passenger traffic but was also marked by the country's railroad downgrading. Also, the past year can be described as a period where the key infrastructural projects in Macedonia got stuck in the labyrinths of tenders and administrative procedures. The international tender for building the railroad...

The global energy crisis, which caused enormous rise of the prices of the electric and the heat energy, activated the red alarm for the citizens of North Macedonia. The questions about the amount of the electricity bills starting from the 1st of January 2022, accompanied by the speculations that there will be power rationing measures, drove the the citizens...

New quantities of lindane were found in one of the warehouses of the former chemical industry complex OHIS, at the outskirts of Skopje, the capital of North Macedonia, by an unannounced inspection by the State Environmental Inspectorate. Three tons of lindane packed in industrial paper sacks were found on wooden pallets in the warehouse now owned by Hemiski Inzhenering...

The level of the air pollution in Skopje during October and November of 2021 was lower compared to the same period in 2020. Concerning the PM 10 and PM 2.5 particles during this past autumn, there is a trend of their decline, while the carbon monoxide and the nitric oxide were within the normal limits. The scope of the...

In the past several decades, the villages of Tabanovce, Lojane and Vaksince in the Kumanovo region have been continuously poisoned by arsenic and other toxic elements that had been dispersed on two locations near the border of North Macedonia with Serbia. At the first location, in the proximity of the Tabanovce Railway Station there is an illegal dump with hundreds...

Poisonings, hunting, capturing or killing are almost everyday threats that wild animals in North Macedonia are faced with. Under threat are also the animals that are included in the Red Lists of endangered species, because despite the high sentences for these crimes, which can be up to ten years imprisonment, so far no one has been punished or sentenced....

Hot summers and hike of the average temperatures, mild winters without snow, decrease of the rainfalls and long dry periods are the new climate reality in Macedonia that we have witnessed in the past decade. The research conducted by the National Hydro-meteorological Administration (UHMR) shows that the last decade (2011-2020), was the hottest on record in North Macedonia...

Single-use plastic shopping bags are banned in North Macedonia, effective today, the 1st of December 2021. The shoppers will have to opt for reusable bags or buy biodegradable thin shopping bags in grocery stores and everywhere else at the price of MKD15 (slightly less than €0.25). This is just one novelty enacted by the amendments of the 6 laws which...

Six out of the eight causes of soil degradation result from the agricultural practices. The overuse of chemicals and the inappropriate tilling and other soil cultivation destroy one of the most important natural resources, that together with the clean air and drinking water, must be preserved. The healthy soil is irreplaceable and essential to sustain life and produce safe...

Construction of new hydro power plants, opening new mines, geological researchеs or new pipeline infrastructure will be banned on the whole territory of the Shar Mountain National Park. In all the planned management zones of the national park, raising introduced and invasive plants and animals will be banned as well. In the protected area of Shar Мountain, construction of houses...

The inflow in the central budget of North Macedonia from the environmental taxes is on the rise. In 2019, €219 084 552 were collected in the state budget i.e. a record sum of taxes was paid, compared to the previous years, shows the State Statistical Office's data. A year before, in 2018, €209 190 164 were collected, while in 2014,...

Exactly two months have passed since the education authorities of North Macedonia have implemented the new Concept for the elementary education, which was heralded as the basis for the education reforms. The novelties planned in the document should improve the situation and follow the contemporary tendencies in education. After the system had underwent many changes in the past, with...

The adoption of the package of bills on the railways that should be regulating the market liberalization has been postponed to December 2022, informed for Meta.mk, the Government of North Macedonia. Also, concerning the potential restructuring of North Macedonia's Railways - Transport, as the biggest loss-making company, will have to wait for the restructuring analysis, that is currently underway. "At...

Located 10 km from the center of the city of Gostivar, in the west of the Republic of North Macedonia, is one of the largest landfills in the country. One rainy October day, the journalistic team from Meta.mk and Portalb.mk, visited the Rusino landfill and during their brief visit shot shocking scenes. Apart from the tens of dogs and...

European Commission's latest report about North Macedonia and its reforms clearly stresses that North Macedonia should increase the assetsthat are allocated on national and local levels to decrease air pollution. "...limited implemention and ressources, weak inter-sectoral cooperation and coordination between central and local authorities limits the impact of measures to reduce air pollution. Air pollution in major cities remains a...

The slag from the former smelting plant in Veles is being exported to Turkey, and by the end of this year, it will be exported to Albania as well. At the moment, concessionaire "Keps Mount Group" is negotiating with a company in Turkey to accept larger quantities of the technogenic mineral raw material. The company stated that every day,...