Air quality continues to be an important issue in the country having implications on the public health, the economy and the environment in general. Poor air quality can lead to increased health hazards, premature death and degradation of ecosystems and decreased yields.
Recognizing the need to improve the air quality, the European Union together with the beneficiary country institutions, is funding the Twinning Project ‘Further strengthening the capacities for effective implementation of the acquis in the field of air quality’. The project duration is 21 months (May 2015 – January 2017) with a budget of 1.1 million Euros.
This project will continue on the improvements implemented during the previous Twinning projects ‘Improvement of Air Quality MK05/IB/EN/01’ and ‘Strengthening the central and local level capacities for environmental management in the area of air quality MK/2008/IB/ENV/01’ which supported the development and implementation of air quality related legislation and strengthening the technical capacities on air quality measurements, monitoring and reporting among other things. Even though significant improvements were reached during these Twinning projects, further work is necessary to fulfill the requirements and fully implement air quality related legislation at the level of European Union.
