Pristina, May 11 – The Pristina City Park was the place where the Eye of Vision Organization published the report “Monitoring the Implementation of the Law on Nature Protection”, in a media conference, where the Director of the Institute was also present at the conference. for Nature Protection, Mr. Rifat Morina.
The report reflects the actual extent to which the law has been implemented on the ground by the institutions and what is the real state of nature in Kosovo. The report has identified many shortcomings regarding the implementation of the law in the field, some of the findings are;
• (not) Applicability of the law in the field
• Ignorance of some of the municipalities about the existence of new legislation and other by-laws (administrative instructions, Biodiversity strategy)
• Lack of relevant Directorates for management of protected natural areas
• (not) Proper communication between the Municipality and the Minister
• Delays of the Ministry in monitoring the implementation of the law and the state of nature
• Lack of assessment reports on the state of nature in Kosovo by the Institute for Nature Protection, etc.
Vlora Latifi, manager of this report, explained that in a research period of six months, ten municipalities of Kosovo were monitored and that our goal was to bring a real picture of the destruction of nature”, she said.
The director of the Nature Protection Institute mostly agreed with the findings of this report. “This institute is responsible for the implementation of the law, but there is a very small staff and with only three officials, who do not even have cars for the field, it is difficult to monitor the entire territory of Kosovo, which has over 100 areas protected”. He also emphasized that until 2014 there can be no increase in the working staff.
Meanwhile, Naser Lajqi, coordinator of the project, said that “this report highlights the responsibilities that everyone has: the Municipalities, the Government, the Assembly of Kosovo and the Institute for Nature Protection”.
Among the recommendations that were presented in this report, it was said that the Ministry should have more frequent communication with all those responsible for the environment, while the local level should report on cases of violation of the law, while inspectors should do more monitoring and punishments .
At this conference, photographs were exhibited showing the consequences of non-implementation of this law, especially in protected areas.
The Eye of Vision organization has requested that the responsible institutions have closer cooperation and coordination of activities in order to preserve the Natural assets, because Nature is a permanent asset which is not the sole property of one generation. The final report, together with the recommendations issued by the “Eye of the Vision” organization, will be presented to the Assembly of Kosovo, the Ministry and the Municipalities of Kosovo.
The project “Monitoring the implementation of the Law on the Protection of Nature” is supported by the National Democracy Institute in Kosovo (NDI).
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