How a community can transform waste from a problem into a resource; what it can do to rationalize water resources’ use; how to apply legislation in the environmental area; how to assess the environmental impact and mainstream gender aspects in environmental activities? All these topics, as well as many others, were discussed today, 24 May 2022, during the national conference “Environment protection measures in sustainable development context”.

The event was organized by the UNDP Project “Climate resilient communities by empowering women”, funded by Sweden, with the aim to enhance the capacities of local public authorities (LPA), that have an essential role in enforcing local sustainable development policies in the context of increased frequency and severity of extreme weather events and other climate hazards.

At the very beginning of the conference, Virginia Bîlici, Programme Officer at the Embassy of Sweden in Chisinau mentioned: “Climate change impacts our society and environment in many ways. It is necessary to have reliable information and strong actions to assess the environmental risks to mitigate the most severe consequences and to plan specific adaptation measures for unstoppable climate change. Sweden supports the efforts undertaken by the Republic of Moldova for building resilient and inclusive communities and the event organized today is an example in this respect.”

About 100 mayors, representatives of the Ministry of Environment, environmental experts and representatives of environmental NGOs have attended the conference and tackled the challenges encountered in the environment protection area, shared good practices and sustainable solutions which may be used by communities to increase resilience to climate change and to use rationally natural resources and assessed the priorities for carrying out environment protection activities.

“The Republic of Moldova is one of the most vulnerable countries in Europe in relation to climate change and the impact of this phenomenon is felt more and more frequently via extended droughts, floods and other calamities provoked by increasing temperatures and uneven precipitations. In this context, we are very glad to see such a high interest from LPAs to become partners in combating this phenomenon, this being evidenced by participation at this event, but also by the projects initiated and implemented with Sweden and UNDP support in different areas, such as waste management, renewables, river recovery and development, afforestation and degraded lands’ landscaping,” mentioned Silvia Pana-Carp, Programme Analyst, UNDP Moldova.

The conference also served as a platform to present several practical guidelines for LPAs on environmental, climate and gender legislation, environmental protection and climate change adaptation measures, developed within the UNDP Project. 

The “Climate resilient communities by empowering women” project contributes to sustainable development and increasing resilience to climate change in communities of Nisporeni, Călărași, Basarabeasca, Leova districts, Gagauzia region, security zone and Transnistrian region via economic, social and educational empowerment of women. The project is implemented by UNDP during 2020 – 2023, with financial assistance provided by Sweden.