Strengthening the Central and Local Level Capacities for Environmental Management in the Area of Air Quality in Macedonia

Source of funding: European Union, Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance.

Type of Project: Twinning Programme Instrument.

Project Leader: Harri Pietarila.
Resident Twinning Adviser: Sari Lappi.

Background

The overall objective of the project was to strengthen the administrative capacity to implement and enforce legislation at central and local level in the area of air quality.

The purpose of the project was the further approximation of national air quality related legislation to the European Union Air Quality Directives through drafting and adopting of legislation in the field of air quality; and strengthening of administrative capacities at the central and local level to implement and enforce the air quality legislation. To achieve the mandatory results the project was divided in 3 Components: Component 1: Legislation development; Component 2: Strengthening the administrative capacity to implement the ambient air quality legislation; and Component 3: Strengthening the administrative capacity for air quality measurement, monitoring and reporting.

Beneficiaries

The main beneficiary organization was the Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning. The project activities also involved representatives of the Hydrometeorological Administration, Institute of Public Health, and municipalities of Gostivar, Berovo, Kavadarci, Aerodrom, Karpos, Bitola and City of Skopje, as well as representatives of the installations, private sector and stakeholders in air quality issues.

Results

The most significant results of the project were: Air quality and emission legislation was further developed to be in compliance with the EU Acquis; First local level plan for reduction of pollution and improvement of air quality was developed. This pilot plan will be used as an example for other plans developed in the local level; Quality of air quality management was improved through development of quality control and assurance procedures for air quality measurements, calibration laboratory and data management; Air quality dispersion modelling systems in local and regional scale were introduced to produce information of air quality impacts of different sectors producing emissions to support comprehensive air quality assessments, decision making and planning processes; Air quality data management system and portal were developed to provide real time data of air pollutant concentrations and other information of air quality and emissions to the public, decision makers and stakeholders. The air quality portal can be found in http://airquality.moepp.gov.mk/airquality/ During the project implementation period, the project team organized 26 workshops and trainings for representatives of central and local level administration and other stakeholders. The 49 separate project activities were implemented with active participation of 20 member state experts and 124 beneficiary experts completing the project activities in 455 mission days.

The Beneficiary Country Project Leader Svetlana Gjorgjeva stated: ‘Twinning project was of great importance and also a challenge for our administration. The project was very important to the overall improvement of the capacities of the administration to cope with the growing air quality problems as well as for the EU accession efforts. The selection of a partnering institution that would assist in the efforts to implement the air quality management standards of the EU was crucial to the successful implementation of the project activities. The involvement of FMI as partner in this project, the experience and knowledge-sharing approach was invaluable to our administration. In FMI we have found a sincere supporter for the efforts to improve air quality management in Macedonia’.