22 October 2021
The European Commission Progress Report for Kosovo for the year 2021 has been published. Within the chapter on environment and climate change, reporting mainly focused on problems and failures to meet objectives. Nevertheless, the report also highlighted limited progress in certain areas. In particular, limited progress during this reporting period was observed in environmental reporting, the identification of air pollution sources, and air quality monitoring. "Limited progress has been achieved during the reporting period, especially in environmental reporting and air quality monitoring," the Progress Report's conclusions in the Environment chapter state. While in the section discussing air quality, it specifically says: "There has been progress in real-time monitoring, identification of sources of n
air pollution and air quality reporting.
The progress achieved in these areas is particularly attributed to environmental reporting and air quality monitoring, and to the identification of air pollution sources, which is mainly related to the work of the Environmental Protection Agency and its cooperation activities with donors.
Additional progress has also been noted in the waste sector, where a reduction in illegal waste dumps has been observed, with the report referring to the assessment made by AMMK on this issue, stating: “The number of illegal dumps has decreased from 2,529 in 2019, to 1,489 in 2020, and to 1,189 in 2021.”
Another progress included within the water sector is the activity for initiating the process of drafting management plans for river basins.
In the nature protection sector, progress has been assessed with the adoption of legal regulations for the proclamation of wild species, plants, and protected and strictly protected animals, as well as the creation of a monitoring system for the Balkan lynx in Kosovo, which is also linked to the engagement of the Institute for Nature Protection in monitoring endangered species through camera traps in cooperation with civil society organizations.
For more, see:
The Environment Chapter in the Progress Report for Kosovo (alb)
Full Progress Report for Kosovo (eng)