Tag: pollution

Photo: Farmer protests in the Netherlands. © Frank Magdelyns, 22nd June 2022 Dutch farmers organized massive protests last year, but not this year. Fact-checkers from the Netherlands told Truthmeter that protests were organized in 2023, but none could be compared to the huge protests and unrest in 2022. Dutch farmers do not protest because the Government wants to dislocate them...

The tests undertaken by the Ministry of Environment of North Macedonia at Pelenica, located next to the Skopje suburb of Drachevo, showed high concentration of lindane (HCH) covered by waste glass. The hazardous waste from the former chemical industry complex OHIS was not placed in concrete pools, as is the case with the two landfills in OHIS’s yard, which...

In 2022, just like in the previous years, the European Commission (EC) in its Report on North Macedonia's progress in the EU integration process, once again came up with criticism about air pollution in North Macedonia. In the chapter "Environment and climate change", EU pinpointed the acceleration of the efforts to cut air pollution, both on local and national...

After reaching the historically lowest record of greenhouse gas emissions in 2016, Macedonia unfortunately increased the emissions of harmful substances into the atmosphere that are contributing to climate change's negative effects. The Energy sector is at the forefront of this negative rise. !function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(e){if(void 0!==e.data){var t=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var a in e.data)for(var r=0;r<t.length;r++){if(t.contentWindow===e.source)t.style.height=e.data+"px"}}}))}(); According to the last data - from 2019, published in the...

The State Environmental Inspectorate (SEI) of North Macedonia is conducting inspections and reports its findings on old environmental pollution to the Ministry of Environment. However, it has no other obligations related to environmental hot spots. "The ministry should secure assets for these locations to be adequately fenced off and marked, as well as to provide assets for their remediation. The...

The economic investment plan for Western Balkan's green transition weighs €9 billion. North Macedonia is part of the Western Balkan's Green Agenda, a long-term green socioeconomic scenario that should give the region a sustainable future. This country's civic organizations are unanimous that the Green Agenda is our reality and future. It is clear that every backpedaling from the set goals...

There are no warning signs, the landfill hasn't been fenced off, there is no people presence in the surroundings, but there is an access dirt road to the landfill, where goat and sheep droppings can be seen. Those are some of the findings in the proceedings of the field inspection conducted by the State Environmental Inspectorate (DIZS) of North...

Safeguarding the environment through the fight against climate change and air pollution in the cities throughout North Macedonia is something that exists only in theory. In reality, the data provided by the State Statistical Office - SSO show that unlike any period before, the number of Macedonian households owning a passenger vehicle last year has climbed to 66.8%. The analysis...

The High Administrative Court of North Macedonia should adopt a decision as soon as possible and finally close the "Ilovica-Shtuka Mine" case, plead the environmentalists from the southeastern part of the country. After the Administrative Court's decision was announced in March this year, that the Euromax Resources company's appeal is rejected and confirmed the termination of the concession, the...

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...

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...

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...

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,...

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...

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,...

The statistics shows that the number of households that own a car is more than double the number of households with at least one bike. According to the data provided by the State Statistical Office (SSO), only 30.7% of the Macedonian households has owned a bicycle in 2020. This number is by 2.8% less compared to 2019, and owning...

Instead of coming closer to the EU standards, year by year, North Macedonia is falling behind the EU member countries more and more in regard of waste management. Statistical data shows that Macedonian citizens and companies are continuously increasing the scope of created communal waste which in turn is inadequately managed from the moment the waste is thrown. Instead...

42% of the respondents in the poll conducted by the Institute for Communication Studies as part of the "Clear Waters" campaign consider themselves the biggest polluters of the waters in Macedonia. One third of the respondents, or 33%, consider that the processing industry is the biggest polluter of the waters, while 10% consider the mining capacities as the biggest...

The air pollution in Skopje was far lower during spring this year, during the  lockdown, compared to this autumn. The movement restrictions that limited the traffic in Skopje and the industrial production have contributed to cleaner air during March and April compared to October and November 2020, show the data of the air quality from the monitoring stations in...

The State Environmental Inspectorate of North Macedonia fined the company Paper Mill from Kochani €20 000 and tasked it to install a filter in a period of two months to prevent the air pollution with PM10 particles from its smokestacks. The municipality of Tetovo may also be fined, because despite the warnings that the reservoir for drinking water in...