Cafes, discotheques, betting shops in residential buildings, crowded streets and loud music, malls built in the middle of the city, industrial facilities, warehouses or warehouses for building materials in housing zones, a huge number of old and noisy cars, trucks, buses on the streets...

The causes of noise are numerous, and it is a significant disturbance of the environment, which is not treated seriously in the country, according to the analysis of Meta.mk.

We meet the springs at every step in our environment, but rarely does any citizen know where to turn and how to fight for a quieter environment. S. Macedonia does not have a Cadastre of noise, there are no strategic maps, and the data from the monitoring are not always available to the general public, although all the directives of the European Union have been transposed into the domestic legislation, and regulations have been drawn up as by-laws.

According to the Shadow Report on Chapter 27, noise can be one of the serious disruptors of the environment, if the commitments already undertaken by the European legislation are not implemented. The Center for Climate Change informs that the Law on Noise in the Environment regulates the basic principles for managing noise in the environment and is made according to the scope of European laws. Sources, boundary values, monitoring method and protection measures are defined

According to Sandra Stojkovska, project coordinator at the Center for Climate Change, the analysis made within the framework of the Shadow Report on Chapter 27 shows that the main EU directive on noise has been fully transposed into national law, but in terms of implementation there are certain shortcomings.

"When it comes to noise monitoring and measurement, the data from the measurements carried out by the public health centers in four cities in Macedonia, Skopje, Kumanovo, Kichevo and Bitola, are taken. "According to certain analyses, it can be seen that in the majority of cases the limit values ​​for noise prescribed in the law are exceeded," says Stojkovska.

He points out that noise regulation is also a problem from the perspective of urban planning because environmental permits, that is, environmental reports, are issued outside of legal regulations. The same applies to the planning for the construction of buildings that have a risk of exceeding the noise limit values ​​in inappropriate locations.

The solution to all problems, according to the Center for Climate Change, which will contribute to complete protection from noise in the environment, is first of all the creation of strategic noise maps and action plans, but also, when there are, their implementation. It is necessary to work on the cadastre of noise pollutants, but also to update it regularly.

"A big problem, especially in big cities, is the noise coming from commercial facilities such as cafes, restaurants, disco clubs, but also commercial facilities with other activities. Traffic is also a big problem when it comes to noise in urban areas. For this purpose, proper urban planning is necessary, that is, care must be taken when planning residential buildings and issuing work permits for some of the above areas. "Commercial facilities whose activities may cause an increased level of noise should not receive a permit to work in parts of the municipality that are intended for housing," believes Stojkovska.

He points out that changes in the building law are also necessary, which will oblige investors to install windows with better sound insulation in buildings located in the immediate vicinity of major thoroughfares.

The European Union's Environmental Noise Directive requires every country that follows European legislation to have strategic noise maps for both major roads, railways, airports and agglomerations with more than 100.000 inhabitants. According to the Aarhus Convention, institutions must provide information to citizens about their exposure to noise, its effects and measures being considered to deal with noise.

The Ministry of Environment informs that they collect and process data from municipal noise measurements and from industrial facilities that are responsible for performing noise measurements in accordance with the Integrated Environmental Permits they possess. These data are part of the annual reports on the quality in the environment, which are published on the website of the ministry, and the last one available is the one for 2021.

"Strategic maps and Action Plans for noise have not yet been created. However, in 2011, a Decree was passed on agglomerations, main roads, main railways and main airports, for which strategic noise maps should be prepared. It is planned to start with the preparation of the Strategic Maps first, and then the Action Plans with the help of the IPA project, which is in the phase of selecting the best offer and which will last for two years", informs the Ministry.

From there they say that a state network for monitoring noise in the environment has been established through the adoption of the Decision on the establishment of a state network for monitoring the environment in 2011. Noise level measurements are carried out by the Institute for Public Health and ten Public Health Centers, of which only three, in Bitola, Kumanovo and Kichevo, collect and process data from measurements from other laboratories that refer to the noise created by different categories of generators. noise such as industry, airports, hospitality tourism facilities and other activities. The Ministry says that in the country there is also a Cadastre of causes of noise, but which is within the framework of the Cadastre for the environment.

According to the adopted European legislation, the obligation of the City of Skopje, as well as of Tetovo, Kumanovo and Bitola, as cities with over 100.000 inhabitants, is to have developed a strategic map and action plan for noise, as well as to establish a noise monitoring network in the urban area . According to documents posted on the website of the City of Skopje, the city authorities undertook to complete the strategic map by 2015. However, there is only a map of noise caused solely by traffic as the cause, but without data on what year it was made, nor whether the data is regularly updated.

The City of Skopje tells Meta.mk that they are only responsible for noise control from installations that have a B integrated environmental permit. From there, there was no answer as to why there is no strategic map and action plans, nor whether and how many controls the city inspectors did in the installations under their jurisdiction, whether noise level violations were detected and whether sanctions were imposed.