Podgorica, (MINA) – The main problem in the field of environmental protection lies on the institutions, since it is not sufficient to have a good legal framework, but it is necessary to respect and apply the laws, said president of the Investigative Journalism Center (CIN-CG) Milka Tadic Mijovic during the conference marking the completion of the “Stop 2 READ” project.
In the publication “Stop nature’s degradation”, which is the part of the project, it is stated that environmental degradation is a serious problem in Montenegro, and that interests of privileged individuals and corruption are usually behind it.
It further stated that the government did some efforts to align the legal framework in this field with the EU’s, which resulted in opening of chapter 27, but additional efforts are necessary in harmonization of the legal framework, while implementation is dubbed a great challenge.
Tadic Mijovic remarked that the media outlets and NGO sector should continue with pressuring decision makers and alarming the public.
According to her, the events in Zabljak and Bar are the confirmation that active citizens can stop environmental degradation.
Tadic Mijovic said that during carrying out the project they had problems with availability of information, since many information in regard to environment are being hidden.
“One of the main problems in informing the public objectively about the environmental protection is hiding information. It speaks volumes about the fact that Montenegro is still far behind becoming a democratic state in which media freedoms exist, since if the information is being hidden, then the citizens cannot be informed about the topics of the public interst”, Tadic Mijovic added.
Executive director of Monitor weekly Milena Perovic Korac said that the main problem in the field of environmental protection is non-existence of legal state and quality institutions which can keep up with the activities in that area.
She said that the government did a part of the job regarding the legal framework, but that implementation is what makes great problem.
“Behind those problems are interests of the privileged individuals and groups, which explains the lack of political will”, said she.
She remarked that importance of media is huge, since they point out to the problems, and work of raising awareness among the citizens.
Dusica Tomovic of the Balkan Investigative Regional Network said that the findings of the survey carried out during the project are not political interpretation, but the real state of affairs.
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