Macedonian Ecological Society

The Macedonian Ecological Society (MES) was founded in 1972 in what was then called the Socialist Republic of Macedonia.

Principal tasks and goals

• Encourage the development of ecological scientific disciplines in the Republic of Macedonia
• Promote the improvement of ecological and environmental education in the Macedonian education system
• Raise public environmental awareness
• Draw attention to environmental problems and, using scientific arguments, stimulate public pressure on institutions and authorities to invest in environmental protection enterprises
• Provide expert assistance to the Macedonian Government in establishing legislative environmental policy
• Promote monitoring systems and follow-up for environment quality in the Republic of Macedonia
• Nature conservation with special emphasis on biodiversity

Principal activities in recent years

• Complex ecological investigations in the beech forests in Mavrovo National Park 1997-2000
• Balkan Bear Carnivores Conservation Network (BALKAN NET) - (Led by Arcturos, Greece)
• TEDDY Project (Led by Arcturos, Greece)
• Symposium "Sustainable development of transboundary Prespa region," Prespa, 2000
• "Integrated Preservation of the Balkan Wolf Population by Diminishing the Human-Carnivore Conflict and Altering the Attitudes towards the Wolf" [1], 2000. MES partnered with the Bulgarian Wilderness Fund [2] and the Albanian Society for the Protection of Birds and Mammals (ASPBM)
• ECO-NET: Creation of a network for legal protection and management of protected areas in the southern Balkans, in cooperation with Arcturos (Greece), Journalist Environmental Center - ERINA (Macedonia) and NGOs from Bulgaria, Albania and Yugoslavia (Project in the frame of DAC) (unclear), 2001–2002
• "BEZFOS" - Use of phosphate-free detergents in the Lake Ohrid regions of Ohrid and Struga (led by Farmahem (Pharmachem [3], Skopje), 2003.
• Vulture conservation project, Macedonia, 2003-
• Preparation of an Action Plan for sustainable development of the village of Galicnik, 2005
• Balkan Green belt as ecological corridor for the bear, wolf and lynx: Jablanica Mountain, 2005
• Balkan Lynx Recovery Programme - Macedonia – 2006

External links

• Macedonian Ecological Society - website