The eighth initiative of the National CSO Coalition was held on 11.12.2020 on the ZOOM platform. The purpose of the event was to address the problems of the citizens of Skopje for their exposure to the continuously increased noise. The topics covered at the forum referred to the degree of transposition, implementation and application of the Law on Noise Protection in the Environment, the reasons for poor implementation and insufficient compliance with legal provisions, as well as possible mechanisms for access to environmental justice for citizens. The event was addressed by representatives of the Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning, the State Inspectorate for Environment, the Institute of Public Health, City of Skopje and relevant representatives of CSOs.
The main conclusions were:
- Greater diligence at the LSGU when submitting complaints by citizens, within deadlines provided by law, otherwise the competent Ministry to act with certain sanctions.
- Greater proactivity of the Inspection Council in case of inaction of the authorized inspectors at local level and better coordination regarding the competencies of the inspectors.
- It is necessary to finally create strategic noise maps, together with action plans, which are the basis for implementing noise reduction measures.
- Without joint cooperation between the civil society sector, local self-government and central government, the existing problems cannot be overcome. Work must be done to improve mutual communication and inter-sectoral cooperation, in order to maximize the capacity to achieve common social goals.
- Greater information among citizens and civil society organizations for their involvement at an early stage in the preparation of detailed urban plans, to propose the merging of construction reports from several buildings that are within a certain radius (example 500 - 1000 meters), in order to calculate the cumulative effect of noise on the local population.
- Complete exemption from costs for citizens who report noise to authorized institutions, because it is unobjective to expect a citizen to make a distinction of 45 or 50 decibels, without measuring devices.
- Citizens have the right to a healthy environment, the right to participate in decision-making processes on environmental issues and the right to access environmental information. Hence, the citizens should seek their realization and be more active in submitting complaints in case of their violation. In addition to other mechanisms for access to environmental justice, free legal aid is a mechanism that can be used for environmental issues and citizens can seek free legal advice from registered associations, regional offices and legal clinics to act in violation of their constitutionally guaranteed rights. for a healthy environment