12 November 2020
11.11.2020 – There was held the first conference with the decision makers within the scope of the project "Air Quality Information Management, Behavior Change and Communication Services", supported by the Kosovo Millennium Foundation (KMF) and funded by the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC).
The conference of all key actors was held with the aim of increasing the cooperation and having a better coordination for improving air quality in the country. On this occasion, there were presented the elements of the campaign whereby the citizens will have the opportunity to regularly control the air quality, provided by 12 air monitoring stations throughout Kosovo.
The nationwide campaign on air quality awareness is scheduled to start in late November in Kosovo in order to inform the public about the health risks caused by air pollution and the measures they need to take to protect themselves by changing their habits and making efforts to reduce pollution levels, especially during the winter season.
"The Project on Air Quality is one of our concrete investments for the creation of a sustainable and modern data system, to increase the transparency of institutions and communication with the public" - Petrit Selimi, MFK Executive Director, said during the introductory speech at the conference.
Sarah Olmstead, MCC Director for Kosovo, singled out this project from the others, saying: “This is one of the projects I like the most, not only because it is related to other energy projects, but also because it enables citizens to have control over the level of air quality and to make decisions accordingly.”
The Air Quality Portal, the mobile application and the sub-website on the NIPH website are some of the interactive tools, developed by the Air Quality Project, which will be made available to the public to a large extent, enabling them controlling the air pollution levels.
The stakeholders agreed to be in full coordination on implementation of the activities for improvement of the air quality, making concrete measures to be taken by both institutions and the citizens themselves. Inter alia, they will engage in the promotion of the campaign, whereby products will be launched that will contribute to the creation of a reliable information system on air in Kosovo, thus enabling citizens to better understand the health damage caused by the air pollution, as well as the measures they should take to change their habits in order to reduce the level of air pollution in the country.
This campaign is one of the main activities within the scope of the project "Supply of the Project Management, Air Quality Information Management, Behavior Change and Communication Services", supported by the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) and the MFK, implemented by NIRAS .
MFK remains committed to assisting KHMI and NIPH in collecting and disseminating information on air quality.
The project aims at improving public availability and analytical use of the environmental data by businesses, government, civil society and NGOs, thus promoting data-driven decision-making.
