Green Tetovo, as it used to be called in the past and as it was known among writers of travel books in the past, is a city with remarkable nature and natural resources at the foot of Shara Mountain. But, today Tetovo is a city of traffic chaos, with an urban mafia that is building uncontrollably, and parks turned into concrete squares and buildings built in an unplanned manner for various purposes. There is less and less left of Tetovo from the past, while the new image of the city is decorated with landfills and with no concern from the authorities for environmental protection and for the health of the citizens.
“In the past, Tetovo had much greenery, parks, even the city square was then one of the many parks. Now with the new urban (non)plans there is not a single park in Tetovo. Unfortunately, after 5 years we still don’t have an urban plan, and there are increasingly less green areas in the city. The lungs of Tetovo and Skopje, as many urban planners call the Shar Mountains, instead of being fostered and preserved, are subjected to people illegally and shamelessly cutting the forest. On the other hand, Shara is one of the most important resources for the development of the economy and tourism. We have a massif that extends from Mavrovo up to Ljuboten, which everywhere in the world would be used for the development of tourism and mountaineering. Unfortunately, not only have we not done anything, but even that little that has been done is not as it should be, and is not functioning”, stated a citizen activist and collaborator of CIVIL from Tetovo, Pero Naumovski, with whom we spoke about green values.
Ecologists from Tetovo are constantly urging for the problem with the ski center on Popova Sapka to finally be solved and the entire massif of Shar Mountain with long-term planning. As Naumovski says, the absurdity is in the resistance of the local authorities towards initiatives of environmentalists to declare Shar Mountain as National Park.
“There is no new afforestation, there are no new parks, on the contrary, what is still there is additionally being destroyed with the urban mafia and with such conditions of the municipality and the state”, explains Naumovski in a disappointed way.
“The state is also responsible, and a large part of the competencies belong to the local self-government. The still unresolved relations in the transfer of competencies from the state to the local level also have a big influence. Perhaps it would help if all the municipalities that gravitate around the Polog planning region were to engage in joint projects for ecology, development of tourism, agriculture and everything that is a natural resource.
I pinpoint the problem in all holders of power, but we ourselves, the citizens, are also to blame. Environmental awareness should begin from the education. And I don’t even want to talk about the conditions of our education”, stressed Naumovski.
Pero Naumovski, as a long-time supporter and member of CIVIL, was present at CIVIL’s info stand in Tetovo, where the project “Green Future” was promoted, and we spoke about green values, social justice and antinationalism in direct communication with the citizens.
Biljana Jordanovska
Camera and photo: Arian Mehmeti
