History of the civil society

Two years of “Eko-misija”

The environmental association “Eko-misija” has been operating in Macedonia for two years now. Its founding assembly took place on 17 February 2003.

From the very beginnings of its establishment, the association has been opened for the citizens with an educational-promotional mission for animating as a contribution to the protection of the environment. The association is open for discussions and the decisions are made in a democratic manner.

Last year, “Eko-misija” took part at the public discussion on the draft-local environmental action plan (LEAP) for Skopje and on the occasion of the Spring Day, its members organized the forestation of Dolgi Rid on Vodno, where they also placed a board showing the basic rules of behaviour with nature. In July last year, on the invitation of the Institute for Regional and International Researches from Bulgaria, the “Eko-misija” representatives were among the other representatives from the civil society organizations from Macedonia who went on a several-day study trip through Bulgaria, where their hosts organized meetings with representatives of organizations from several towns with the aim to exchange the mutual experiences. In October 2004, in cooperation with the Macedonian Ecological Association, The Wildlife Protection Fund and the Natural and Science Museum, this environmental organization gave a lecture on the endangered species, more precisely, on the birds of prey in Macedonia. In November, the same year, it became a member of the international organization Central and Eastern Europe Working Group for Endangered Biodiversity (CEEWEB) and they had their representative at the annual assembly in Hungary. In December 2004 it became a full member of the Macedonian Ecologists’ Movement.

Currently, they are working on the initiative for placing a ban on the traffic and car- racing on Vodno, for which the environmental activist have the support of all environmental and mountaineering association from Skopje, the other municipalities and other state institutions.

 

D.M.