Tirana, November 13, 2018. EcoAlbania organized an open meeting on the topic “The importance of providing environmental information for an active society” during which the study “Environmental Information Management in Albania” was presented. Attendees, environmental CSOs, journalists, students, representatives of state institutions, etc. were introduced with the analysis of the legal framework and environmental information management at the local and national level, based on the information generated by the Report on the Environment State of Albania (RESA).
In the panel: Mihallaq Qirjo, Director of REC Albania; Mentor Kikia, moderator; Olsi Nika, Executive Director of EcoAlbania; Entela Çobani, environmental expert.
Access to environmental information continues to be problematic due to lack of updating, clarity of information, transparency and coordination between institutions at central and local level. The assessment of the situation regarding its monitoring and management is necessary in the framework of greater involvement and easier distribution to citizens. This was the reason that lead to conducting such a study by EcoAlbania and REC Albania.
Speaking about the importance and the need of this study, Mr. Mihallaq Qirjo, director of REC Albania said that the Ministry of Environment should work more on fostering the public participation in environmental decision-making, adding that this can not be done without access to simplified and up-to-date environmental information.
The group of experts involved in the study, consisting of legal, environmental and communication experts, presented recommendations to central, local institutions and civil society organizations to improve environmental information management. Some of the recommendations that were shared with the attendees were:
- The unification of the methodologies used to monitor each environmental parameter, with that of the EU and their continuous review.
- The prioritization of the establishment of Environmental Information Systems that analyze and process monitoring data, thus creating “information” to be used for reporting towards “final users” such as policymakers and the public.
- Strengthen inter-institutional cooperation for the sharing of environmental data and necessary information for RESA and the contribution of local and private actors in drafting the RESA.
- A proper communication strategy should be drafted for the transmission of information generated by the RESA to the public.
- Democratization of resources in monitoring and managing environmental information is very important. In this frame, should be concidered, such as the establishment of monitoring structures and data collection platforms with invormations coming from citizens.
These recommendations are mainly addressed to the National Agency of Environment (NAE) in order to improve the monitoring process of the state of environment and simplifying environmental information to the public. The Ministry of Tourism and the Environment and NEA did not respond to EcoAlbania’s invitation to attend the meeting. However, the organizations involved in the study aim at organizing a meeting at the premises of NEA to present the study to the NEA officials, in the near future.
This meeting is organized under the project “Environmental Information for an Active Citizen” and is financially supported by the Swedish Embassy through the SENIOR II program implemented by the Regional Center of Environment – REC Albania
