The process for creating a vision for Osogovo as future protected area is underway

As a part of the activities of the Nature Conservation Programme in Macedonia related to the process of proclamation of Osogovo as a future protected area, workshops were held in Kocani and Kriva Palanka on 13 and 14 September, in order to create a common vision about Osogovo as a future protected area. The workshops were attended by representatives of the local population, hikers, hunters, farmers and NGOs and their purpose was to inform the local population and the interested parties about the activities for declaring Osogovo a future protected area, in the category of protected landscape, and involve them in the creation of a common vision for the Osogovo region.

The vision of the local population is that the region will be a recognizable travel destination, that forest fruit pickers will be licensed and that most rivers will have water treatment plants. The participants from the seven municipalities of Kocani, Makedonska Kamenica, Probistip, Kratovo, Rankovce, Kriva Palanka and Oblesevo also pointed out that the dumpsites in the region should be removed.

The process for creating a vision for Osogovo as a future protected area is done simultaneously with the Study on natural values of the Osogovo Mountains and the socio-economic research for the region as the fundamental documents for initiating the procedure for declaring part of Osogovo a protected area in the category of protected landscape.

In the forthcoming period there will be a campaign for acquainting the local population that part of the massif will be protected, while the boundaries of the future protected area will be defined with the key stakeholders in the region.