Today I am going to write about my home country mainly because I've seen from the chat, comments posted on the website, and the like that there are many youth from all the corners of the world so it is important to write about the country we come from and the environmental issue we experience.
Please note that the below part is my own writing and is not taken from any online website. In case I do use data, I will provide citations.
Country Profile: Kosovo
Kosovo, geographically is situated in the South-East of Europe and Central Asia. It is a newly born country, only four years old. Thus, Kosovo is going through the process of transition be it in economic, political, social, and environmental terms and perspectives. Kosovo has a history of poor environmental practices, which are a major concern for public health and the environment. Air pollution, particularly from the dust generated by power stations and ash dumps, is a critical problem and waste waters from the mining and power operations are heavily polluted.
0 0 1 67 386 Alden Library - Ohio University 3 1 452 14.0 Normal 0 false false false EN-US JA script>X-NONEscript> When speaking of environmental issues, they are so far the single greatest long-term threat facing our global community. Kosovo faces many environmental problems, and they continue to increase, especially after the war. Some of the environmental issues in Kosovo are: air pollution, road traffic pollution (registered vehicles: old and new ones), water pollution (river pollution and garbage throwing), forest fire damage, illegal wood cutting, and loss of agricultural land. These problems are directly linked with the human mortality and sickness, preventive costs, technical feasibility, and time to fix the problem. To further evaluate, what I mean is that the poor life conditions shape the health of human beings and eventually lead to the high mortality rate. For instance, it is widely known that the air pollution is highly linked with the respiratory illnesses, which sometimes cause lungs diseases and other medical treatment that the country itself cannot provide.
Usually, it is difficult to fix the environmental problem especially the one that relates to the air pollution and water systems pollution or lack of clean water for this reason, there is limited or either no technological resources for repairing the environmental consequences, i.e. machineries and other means of technology. Financial justification in preventing environmental problems is also another significant feature of Kosovo. Kosovo faces periodic budgetary crisis therefore, environmental issues in Kosovo have to be increasingly justified in the language of economics. As stated above, Kosovo is the poorest country in Europe with the highest unemployment rate which peaks up to 70% and half of the population is on the poverty edge which is defined by the United Nations as less than $1 per day. Thus, its primary focus is on the economic development, conflict restructuring, political integration into Europe and the West, and democratic governance. Thus, land degradation or loss of agricultural land, water and air pollution are not a priority or mainly lack funds. That is why there is high preventive cost. But, I always question myself, if there is high preventive cost what would be the cost of tackling these issues when the country develops to a certain stage of sustainability? Would the cost of environmental problems rise and as it most certainly will I wonder by how much? As a result, I also assume the alternative and the cost-benefit analysis meaning that perhaps it would be less costly to tackle with the environmental problems until they have not reached the disastrous stage.
These are my insights and would like to hear from you.
6 Comments
Welcome to this forum, Anesa.
I liked your dedication in not coping from the net.
Self written articles are pure & easy to understand.
Democratic governance & Economic up gradation may change the scenario.
All the Best!
Posted 27-11-2014 19:35
Good artical
Posted 23-11-2014 23:20
Thank you Ahmed :)
Posted 23-11-2014 10:06
awesome anesa
Posted 23-11-2014 08:05
Thank you for your contribution. I will be looking forward to read your post and comment as well.
Posted 23-11-2014 08:04
Hi Anesa, I just copied your link and read about your Environmental Challenges in Kosovo, i think Kosovo and Nigeria have somethngs in common talking of environmental and Economic Challenges. the case in Nigeria is about the oil spillagewhich has denied some communities access to potable water and fishing activities. I hope to post my comment on
Environmental challenges in Nigeria very soon.
Posted 23-11-2014 06:54