This year’s high-level political forum for sustainable development was held from July 5 to 15 at the United Nations headquarters in New York. For the first time, at this event, Montenegro also had a representative from non-governmental organizations, the executive director of Green Home, Azra Vuković, who gave an overview of the Second Voluntary National Report from the point of view of the civil sector.

Representatives of Green Home and the Society of Young Ecologists of Nikšić were members of the working group that prepared the Second Voluntary National Report (VNR), which was presented at this important event.

It was pointed out that despite the progress achieved in the previous decade, in the last few years sustainable development was not a priority of the Government. Another voluntary national report confirmed that there is obvious stagnation and that Montenegro still has a lot to do in order to achieve the goals of sustainable development. There is a great complementarity between the process of EU integration and the achievement of the 2030 Agenda and the goals of sustainable development. Close to two-thirds of the Sustainable Development Goals are closely related to EU acquis requirements. There is a special connection with chapter 27, which means that by fulfilling the goals for chapter 27, Montenegro will be closer to achieving the goals of sustainable development.

At the Forum, significant problems that exist in this area were highlighted, among which the following stand out:

Management of protected areas that is not at a satisfactory level;

Serious problems in the management of national parks;

The need to strengthen control in order to prevent habitat damage;

Threat to forests of high ecological value due to illegal logging;

Frequency of forest fires;

Long-term presence of poaching, including the shooting of rare and protected species;

Waste management that is not at the appropriate level;

In addition, it was pointed out that citizens are not encouraged to make a real contribution through public participation in decision-making.

It was said that the national sustainable development strategy was a step towards making efforts to make concrete the constitutional determination of Montenegro to be an ecological state. It was pointed out that Montenegro must urgently make efforts to achieve the goals of sustainable development already defined in documents and strategies, to stop being recognized as a country that does not implement its own plans and strategies and provide a sustainable future for its citizens.