UNDP Tackling Air Pollution in Skopje NMK Urban luftkvalitet (UNDP) UNDP: s lokala kontor i Nordmakedonien har vänt sig till Sida med ansökan om finansiering av 20 miljoner SEK för att genomföra ”Tackling Air Pollution in the City of Skopje” under perioden 2019 - 2021.

Luftföroreningar är en viktig orsak till för tidig död och sjukdom och är den enskilt största miljöhälsorisken i Europa. Luftföroreningar orsakar cirka 400 000 för tidiga dödsfall per år. Rapporten som släpptes i juni 2019 av FN:s miljöprogram och utarbetades i samarbete med Världshälsoorganisationen bekräftar att befolkningen på västra Balkan är utsatt för några av de högsta koncentrationerna av luftföroreningar i Europa, upp till fem gånger högre än nationella och EU:s riktlinjer. Dessutom rankades de tre städerna - Skopje, Bitola och Tetovo – år 2017 bland de tio mest förorenade i Europa med förhållanden som försämrades påtagligt och mätbart under de senaste fem åren. 

Projektet ”Att ta itu med luftföroreningar i Skopje stad” syftar till att demonstrera ett mångfaldigt projekt för att konfrontera luftföroreningar i bostadsområdet i Skopje stad. Syftet är att skapa en fullt fungerande plattform som får alla traditionella och icke-traditionella partners att arbeta tillsammans för att ta itu med frågan. 

Projektet har fyra huvudkomponenter: Komponent 1: Utveckla ett omfattande övervakningssystem för pilotområdet och en samordningsplattform för att hantera luftföroreningar; Komponent 2: Implementera lagstadgade ändringar som är nödvändiga för övergångar mot energisystem med lägre hushållsutsläpp; Komponent 3: Demonstration av åtgärder som hanterar orsakerna till föroreningar vid uppvärmning av hushåll, och Komponent 4: Öka allmänhetens medvetenhet. Projektet kommer att förbättra samordningen mellan alla ansvariga aktörer för att säkerställa ett ”hela regeringen” och ”hela samhället” svar på utmaningen för luftföroreningar. 

Ministeriet för miljö och fysisk planering och Skopje stad är de viktigaste projektpartnerna och stödmottagarna, men projektet ska undersöka deltagande av alla relevanta intressenter, inklusive akademin och civilsamhällets organisationer, som kan bidra till att mildra problemet. UNDP local office in North Macedonia has applied to Sida for funding of 20 million SEK to carry out the “Tackling Air Pollution in the City of Skopje” during the period 2019 - 2021. 

Air pollution is a major cause of premature death and disease and is the single largest environmental health risk in Europe, causing around 400,000 premature deaths per year. The report released in June 2019 by the U.N. Environment Program and prepared in cooperation with the World Health Organization confirms that the population in the western Balkans is exposed to some of the highest concentrations of air pollution in Europe, up to five times higher than the national and the EU guideline levels. Moreover, the three cities – Skopje, Bitola, and Tetovo – were ranked in 2017 as among the top ten most-polluted in Europe with conditions worsening tangibly and measurably in over the past five years. 

The project “Tackling Air Pollution in the City of Skopje” aims to demonstrate a multi-pronged intervention to confront the air pollution in the residential area of City of Skopje. Its objective is to establish a fully functional platform that brings all traditional and non-traditional partners to work together to address the issue.

The project  has four main components: Component 1: Develop a comprehensive monitoring system for the pilot area, and a coordination platform to tackle air pollution; Component 2: Implement regulatory changes necessary to transitions towards a lower emission household energy system; Component 3: Demonstration of measures that address the causes of pollution for household heating, and Component 4: Build public awareness. The Project will enhance the coordination among all the responsible actors to ensure a “whole of government” and “whole of society” response to the air pollution challenge. 
The Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning and the City of Skopje are the main project partners and beneficiaries, but the project shall peruse the involvement of all relevant stakeholders who can contribute to mitigate the problem including the academia and civil society organizations. The intervention seeks to address one of the multiple and intersecting causes that contribute to Skopje’s air pollution problem, ranked in 2017 as among the top ten most-polluted cities in Europe with conditions worsening tangibly and measurably in over the past five years. A series of studies conducted under the leadership of the Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning with different partners has helped to identify the main pollution sources, the most critical pollutant being the suspended particle matter (PM) and the sector most responsible for PM emissions as household heating.
It relates to a number of underlying factors that contribute to the complexity of the situation, such as: i) inadequate reliable air quality monitoring system and potential sources of pollution; ii) insufficient coordination amongst stakeholders; iii) an inadequate regulatory framework; iiii) Large number of inefficient buildings with no or limited insulation, inefficient wood-burning stoves on the market, few workable schemes available to owners to finance or implement retrofitting, limited availability of efficient heating technologies where district heating is not available; iv) widespread polluting practices such as open burning of wood burning plastic, garbage and other toxic materials for heating v) low awareness levels about the sources and effects of air pollution, in particular the impact of inefficient heating practices and the possibilities for more cost-effective heating sources. The project is focused at local level by designing and testing local actions specific for a municipality in Skopje, in order to demonstrate the concept of a low emission district that can be used as an example for wider action. 
Taking into consideration that the heating practices in the residential sector are the main contributor to the air pollution of the City of Skopje, as well as the availability of the current funding, the approach for this project is to carry out a multi-pronged intervention to tackle air pollution linked to the residential sector. It is aimed to establish a fully functional platform that brings all traditional and non-traditional partners to work together to address the issue.
The project aims to bring about change in the behaviour of people, and in the use of energy in Skopje through a comprehensive approach involving a) effective and inclusive monitoring / understanding of the sources of pollution; b) changes in the regulatory framework to bring about changes in behaviour amongst market operators and consumers; c) investments in interventions that will reduce energy consumption and pollution – including particulate matter, CO, and GHGs; d) communications / awareness raising activities to ensure public buy-in and better understand how to adjust programmes to achieve lasting impacts.