The environment was the center of discussions on tonight’s RinON – Euronews Albania’s latest weekly show, dedicated entirely to bringing together the youth and various personalities of the Albanian political spectrum.

Students, Eridiola Biba and Diogjen Kolici came face-to-face with the deputy minister of tourism and the environment, Ornela Cuci and Democratic MP, Andia Ulliri.

The focus of tonight’s meetup was to bring to light the strategies of the ruling party and those of the opposition when it comes to protecting the environment.

To start off the conversation, the deputy minister of tourism said that when it comes to the issue of waste management, Albania has made progress in terms of bringing its legal framework closer to the one followed by the EU.

This according to Cuci, has led to having 70 % of the population currently disposing of their garbage into one of the optimized sanitary sites.

“Before, the waste would be thrown into the river, as was instructed in a precept signed by the Municipal Council. This is the Albania we found back in 2013 – with 130 dumpsites along the river banks and 40 in the vicinity of protected sites.

This has been done and there are still more problems because we come from a long history of mismanagement. Now, we are presenting a platform that would shut down these historical dumpsites, by cooperating with the municipalities,” – she said.

In turn, Democratic MP, Andia Ulliri said that the government has failed when it comes to its strategy to tackle waste management and that the personification of this entire situation, according to her, is the issue with the incinerators – one that has been denounced by DP on numerous occasions.

Ulliri argued that DP doesn’t necessarily believe that incinerators are the wrong option. What DP is trying to point out, however, is that they’re not being put to work due to corruptive affairs.

Another issue discussed by the panel of guests was the Vjosa River. According to deputy minister Cuci, the decision made by the National Council for the Territory has now put Vjosa on the map of protected sites and that it won’t be long until this decision is adopted and turns into an official ruling.

Should Vjosa even be a Natural Park?

This was the question laid out by deputy minister, Ornela Cuci, who gave her own definition and interpretation of the term.

“A natural park is a preserved area and when you say preserved, you imply that you can’t even touch a single leaf. But in reality, around 55 thousand residents live along the banks of Vjosa,” – argued Cuci.

The deputy minister also touched upon the current situation of forestry in our country.

In 10 years we’ve lost 32% of our forests

Cuci claimed that for the first time, the Socialist-led government has run an inventory of the total forest space in our country, which led to the discovery that from 2006-2016, we’ve lost around 32% of our forest volume.

“And let’s not forget, that the biggest problem we face is the rise in global temperatures and we saw very well, how the entire world was struck by wildfires this year,” – continued Cuci.

Municipality of Tirana should stop giving out so many building permits

Democratic MP, Andia Ulliri argued that if we really want to minimize pollution and its negative effects on the capital, then our Municipality should stop handing out so many construction permits.

Ulliri specified that the small parks that the government claims to have built are in her words, ‘projects of façade’, whereas, from an architect’s standpoint, she said she finds them ‘absolutely ridiculous and incapable of bringing about any change’.

“Let us stop planting those small trees here and there, but cleverly invest in the Albanian environment. Let us shut down these construction sites that work day in and day out, and put a stop to polluting the air we breathe,” – said Ulliri.

In addition, Ulliri called it ‘concerning’ that someone has to start the day with the noise of heavy machinery that serve their function in these construction sites, and most importantly, they not only result in more pollution but also more traffic.

Ulliri also made mention of the rise in people riding bicycles to town, which has produced solutions just as much as it has created new problems in terms of bringing up the number of roadside accidents.