The President of the Republic of Kosovo Vjosa Osmani, on the occasion of the launch of Earth Days in Kosovo, addressed today the citizens, and in particular the children, activists for the protection of the environment, with a message about the importance of protecting our planet, the urgency to address environmental challenges as well as the importance of collective action on these issues.
The Office of the President is a partner of Earth Days in Kosovo, a program that will have ongoing activities to encourage civic activism and raise awareness of environmental protection.
President Osmani’s full address:
Thank you very much Fatmir,
Thank you to everyone present here today,
It has been a while since we started with activities dedicated to Earth, but as I said when I met with the students a few days ago, with our pupils, Earth Day should be every day for us.
Dear Minister Aliu,
Dear Maria,
Ms. Suokko, UNDP head
Ambassador of Luxembourg,
Honourable Media,
All you present today,
And particularly dear students,
Days ago, as I mentioned, we celebrated Earth Day in the company of some exceptional pupils. Their handling and elaboration of environmental topics really gave me a lot of hope for the future.
If years ago, environmental issues were seen as secondary topics, now we are noticing from year to year that they are becoming more and more present in the public discourse.
In this direction, as much as the fact that global environmental developments and phenomena are becoming more and more challenging naturally influences, the mobilization and all-round commitment to raise awareness of these issues also contribute. The fact that we are all gathered together today and are marking Earth Days in Kosovo is direct proof.
Certain research which has been carried out in the direction of identifying the biggest environmental challenges in the global plane shows that the biggest problems are related to climate change, air pollution, waste treatment which is still being done today, deforestation and water pollution. All these in one way or another affect our country.
Just as climate change knows no borders, so do the effects of almost every other environmental problem.
One thing must be clear: in dealing with these issues, the individual approach is not enough. We need regular cooperation and coordination both at the national and regional level, but also at the global level, in order to succeed.
In a world dominated by overconsumption, overproduction, constant migration and overpopulation; efficiency, waste management and treatment, as well as the circular economy are gradually turning into headlines. They are our guarantee to successfully face the environmental challenges of our days.
• Do we have the will to work in this direction? I can confirm that YES, we do.
• Do we have the knowledge to work in this direction? I have no doubt that we do.
• Do we have enough resources? I think we need support, cooperation and coordination.
• Do we have an alternative to not dealing with environmental protection? Absolutely not. There is no other alternative.
Always remember that protecting the earth and the environment means protecting health, protecting life and protecting well-being on Earth. Thank you!
