Air Quality Plan
In the process of improving air quality, the role of LSGs is significant, because according to legal provisions they are obliged to prepare Air Quality Plans in which measures for improving and protecting air quality are defined.
According to the Law on Ambient Air Quality, municipalities where exceedances have been recorded, i.e., where the levels of pollutants in the ambient air exceed the limit or target values, as well as municipalities with more than 35,000 inhabitants, are required to prepare an Air Quality Plan. The mayors of the municipalities are obliged to organize the preparation, implementation, and monitoring of the Air Quality Plans and must report on the degree of implementation of the Air Quality Plan to the Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning. The law also recommends that municipalities cooperate with neighboring municipalities when preparing plans in order to improve their effectiveness.
Air Quality Plans are prepared in accordance with the Rulebook on the Detailed Content and Manner of Preparing the Plan for Improving Ambient Air Quality
The Guidelines for preparing an Air Quality Plan describe the step by step method for creating the plan, define the responsible institutions, the way of obtaining and processing data, the way of defining the measures, the procedure for adopting the plan, and the monitoring of the implementation of the measures defined in the plan. The guidelines also contain questionnaires that can be used to collect data from various institutions, as well as methodologies for estimating emissions in cases where emission measurements are not available.
The Air Quality Plans adopted so far by the LSGs are available at the following link: Local/Air Quality PlansThese can serve as examples in the preparation or updating of Air Quality Plans by the LSGs.
Short-Term Action Plans
According to the Law on Ambient Air Quality, municipalities where there is a risk that pollutant levels may exceed one or more alert thresholds are required to prepare a short-term action plan. Short-term action plans contain short-term measures aimed at reducing pollution, whereby certain activities contributing to such conditions may be limited or suspended, including measures to restrict or suspend traffic, reduce industrial activities, and recommendations to citizens to protect their health. Municipalities identified in the List prepared by the MoEPP, where there is a risk of exceeding the alert thresholds, must have a prepared short-term action plan, which is implemented during episodes of alarming pollution, i.e., when the defined alert thresholds are exceeded.
Regarding the measures to be taken when the threshold is exceeded, the mayor of the municipality and the City of Skopje, in cooperation with the public administration body responsible for public health and the competent Information and Warning Centre, are obliged to continuously inform the concerned public about the situation and the measures to be taken.
So far, only the City of Skopje has a short-term action plan. An initiative is underway for the development of short-term plans by larger municipalities, taking into account the latest amendments to the Law on Ambient Air Quality
