On 22 November, a national online meeting was held between the Minister of Environment and Water Mr. Julian Popov, youth and civil society organisations on national climate and environment policies.
We had the chance to ask questions that excite the young people of Gabrovo. Our representatives Martin Ivanov - Vice-Chairman and Tsvetelina Ignatova - responsible for "Environment and Urban Environment" in the Youth Parliament of Gabrovo, had the opportunity to address their questions. Their questions concerned the waste incineration plants, the work of the thermal power plants in Bulgaria, the agreements between Europe and China in the field of ecology, the construction of landfills and the plans to recycle the new "harvest" of waste - solar panels, electric car batteries and wind turbine blades.
Questions followed from other youth centers in Pernik and Burgas. The questions of the IYC Pernik were related to the popularisation of the topic of environmental protection and climate change, where textile waste goes and how the reduction of air pollution is planned. The questions of IYC Burgas concerned the measures taken against the development on the Black Sea coast, the silting of Lake Vaya. The concept of economic degrowth was also mentioned. The youth environmental organization Pangea was interested in the energy coming from Renewable energy sources and what actions have been taken to stop the burning of car tires.
WWF Bulgaria, for its part, presented a study on the perceptions of young people in the Balkans about climate change.
This meeting is organised by the Environmental Association "For the Earth" (ZaZemiata), they have a petition "Those who pollute must pay" calling on the European Union to act to secure a safer present and future by making big polluters pay for the climate crisis. They are demanding new taxes on fossil fuel companies, the transport and financial sectors and on the assets of the super-rich to support communities in Europe and the southern hemisphere to tackle the climate crisis.
We are grateful for Minister Popov's answers and we learned new things about the current situation in different parts of the country and the world. We are also grateful to the Environmental Association For the Earth (ZaZemiata) who made this meeting happen. We wish the Minister a successful COP28 meeting in Dubai and hope that after it we will have the chance to talk again and discuss the conclusions and decisions taken for the future of the Earth.
A recording of the meeting can be found on the Facebook page of For the Earth (ZaZemiata).
