October 27, 2016, EU Info Centre, Skopje

The conference is part of the project “Challenges and obstacles faced by the small water systems in rural Macedonia and Romania” supported by the German Agency for Environmental Protection.

Key points of the conference were related to the Sustainable Development Goals and water and sanitation as a prerequisite for development of the municipalities, gender aspect in relation to access to water and sanitation in the rural areas, the situation with access to water and sanitation from technical and medical point of view, water and sanitation as a basic human right, presentation of the report on the situation of access to water and sanitation in 3 rural municipalities in Macedonia and the need for a regulatory body for water. Additionally, participants discussed the need for clean water and sanitation as a prerequisite for a healthy generation and sustainable agriculture

The Conference was concluded with several recommendations for further steps, including establishment of a coordinating body for information regarding problems with drinking water and sanitation, improvement of the current situation in terms of water pollution, specifically with the situation of water pollution after the summer floods in Skopje.

Representatives of the ENV. net team in Macedonia used the opportunity to promote the work of ENV.net, focusing on the Monitoring Matrix and its contribution to collecting information from the Balkan countries and Turkey on the transposition of EU environmental acquis into the national legislation and their implementation, accentuation the water sector.