Regarding the important issue of public awareness and participation in environmental decision making, several steps have been undertaken and significant results have been reached during 1993-1994, taking into account the fact that three or four years ago, no structures or relevant bodies of environmental protection existed.

Public participation in environmental protection questions is mainly a field of the environmental non-governmental organisations (NGOs), the number of which reached 14 (September 1994), not mentioning other organisations that include environmental issues in their programs and activities. The national network of these NGOs has started to function and some of these organisations have established continuous contacts with the CEP and other governmental bodies responsible for environmental protection. It is imperative that the co-operation with the NGOs be programmed mainly towards sensibilization, education and public awareness about environmental issues through a broader use of mass media, seminars and conferences.

Although the environmental NGOs do not have official functions, they have developed more campaigns and activities on the benefit of the environmental protection fro industrial and urban pollution, nature and biodiversity protection, as well as the organisation of scientific activities like symposiums and conferences, and recently the publication of the first environmental magazine which addresses the broad public.

CEP has promoted and supported the co-operation with these NGOs and has carried out several common activities with them, while in 1994, it financed three NGO projects, at the amount of 140 thousand leks, according to its financial possibilities (income coming from environmental permits).

Public informing through mass media, particularly television has considerably increased. This has positively affected the environmental education and awareness of the public which is evident in the increasing interest of the people to follow programs and information related to the environmental protection questions, consequences and dangers deriving from them. A series of programs about special topics on environmental protection have been prepared due to the close co-operation of TV journalists with the CEP specialists. These programs aim at raising public awareness in regard of environmental issues like urban pollution, illegal cutting of forests and abusive damages of the green areas, illegal hunting, treatment of expired pesticides and so on.

Despite the above mentioned, public participation and environmental NGOs in the process of planning and development of environmental policies in the country has just started and needs to be strengthened.