On 15 April 2021, the Foundation Open Society – Macedonia (FOSM) and ZOR Milieukontakt Macedonia realized the first training on the topic Climate changes intended for the public administration from the Municipality of Štip. The purpose of the training was to offer additional information and to improve the knowledge of the representatives of the local public administration on climate change and the implementation of measures and policies at the local level.
The workshop was attended by fifteen (15) employees in the municipal administration in Štip from the Department for information affairs, Department for urbanism, construction, housing and environmental protection, Department for the arrangement of construction land, regulation and geodetic works, Department for local economic development, Department of Human Resources Management, etc. The trainers were Maja Markovska, Executive Director of ZOR Milieukontakt Macedonia and Dr Petra Pop Ristova, Aquatic Ecologist Microbiologist, project coordinator at ZOR Milieukontakt Macedonia.
The training included an overview of international legislation related to climate change (UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement), national legislation (existing provisions and articles of environmental law relating to climate change, desertification and mitigation of the effects of droughts, i.e. the planning documents to be prepared by the Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning, the ways of their implementation and reporting on the implementation, as well as the strategic documents (Strategy for Environment and Climate Change 2014-2020, with an Action Plan for achieving the objectives for environmental protection and climate change). Information was also shared on the drafting of the first framework law on climate action, as well as the draft version of the long-term climate action strategy 2020-2050. A brief overview of the impacts and vulnerabilities of climate change on water, the environment, food and human health was also provided. The terms migration or climate change mitigation activities, explained by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and increasing carbon stocks and adaptation, or activities to reduce climate change vulnerability, were also explained, and mitigation measures (energy-efficient facades) were discussed such as energy-efficient home appliances, energy-efficient heating and heating, replacement of energy reagent – electricity instead of fuel oil, sustainable electricity production – solar panels, wind farms, hydropower plants, electrification of industry and electrification of transport) sectors of water resources, disaster risk reduction, health, agriculture, urban areas.
The training also presented the activities in the project “Municipal Strategies for Climate Change”, which was funded by USAID and implemented by ZOR Milieukontakt Macedonia (2012-2017), as well as the experiences and benefits for the municipalities that participated in it and developed local climate change strategies (14 municipalities) and implemented pilot projects and emergency actions (10 municipalities).
At the end of the training was presented the concept of Sustainable, green and climate-neutral cities, which are the cause, but at the same time can be a solution to climate change, given that cities can contribute to achieving 40% of the objectives of the Paris Climate Agreement. The proposed solutions for the cities were: climate urban planning, increase of areas with parks, green roofs, green facades, urban gardens, urban water habitats, peri-urban water habitats, etc.
The training was conducted within the Concept of FOSM “Green Leap – Partnerships for Climate Action”.
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20 April 2021