A survey conducted by CeRe: Resource Centre for Public Participation, at the initiative of the Bucharest Community Foundation, as part of the “In YOUR AREA” program, recently revealed that 77% of Bucharest residents are dissatisfied with the quality of the air, followed by waste management, at 70%.

The people of the capital city are also dissatisfied with green space issues (62%), the effects of climate change (52%), and urban mobility (50%).

More than half of Bucharest residents participating in a survey conducted by the Bucharest Community Foundation are dissatisfied with the state of the environment in their area, while 35% are indifferent and only 11% are satisfied. However, only 23% of respondents want to participate in solving the environmental problems they identify, according to the survey.

When it comes to the main problem, air quality, most respondents complain about heavy traffic (82%), pollution (81%), and heavy traffic generated by trucks (39%). In terms of waste management, lack of education about recycling (73%), poor waste collection (68%), lack of separate collection (64%), and irresponsible consumption (52%), such as excessive packaging or owning more than one car per household, are the issues that dissatisfy citizens the most.

The CeRe survey also identified problems such as a lack of solutions to protect cities from the effects of climate change (64%), a lack of initiatives to reduce the consumption of natural resources and mitigate the city’s impact on the environment (62.7%), or a lack of support for disadvantaged communities affected by climate change (46.6%). All these add to urban mobility issues, where Bucharest residents noted the lack of lanes (69%) and parking spaces (68%) for bicycles, lack of education for using alternative transport instead of the personal car (66.8%), and insufficient public transport (38.9%). 

In addition, the citizens interviewed also mentioned other issues they identified, such as the lack of community leisure centers, playgrounds, or sports alternatives, as well as the lack of access to sports fields, the lack of public bathrooms and public hydration sources, the lack of vegetation outside green areas and of community vegetable gardens.

Although all respondents in Bucharest’s micro-communities notice environmental problems in their area, almost 77% say they are not willing to participate in solving them. 

In response, the Bucharest Community Foundation, through the Environmental Platform for Bucharest and with the support of ING Bank Romania, is launching a call to the inhabitants of 42 well-defined micro-communities in Bucharest to get involved and turn their complaints into implementable projects submitted in the “In YOUR AREA” program. The program includes an investment of EUR 750,000 in civic environmental projects over the next 2 years, both in the form of grants and initiatives to support their implementation, such as project incubators, mentoring, and access to specialists.

Residents of Bucharest in the areas targeted by the program can submit their project ideas until March 31.

Shared repair centers for household items or bicycles, libraries of tools that can be used by people in the community, events to exchange clothes or items, composting stations, or urban community gardens are just several examples of projects that can receive funding for implementation in the small communities targeted by the “In YOUR AREA” program.

Projects can be submitted by non-governmental, politically unaffiliated organizations, initiative groups of at least 3 people who jointly undertake the planning and implementation of a project, or state educational institutions that will carry out the proposed activities in one of the selected areas. They can submit projects until March 31 by filling in the form available on the Environment Platform for Bucharest’s website. 

radu@romania-insider.com 

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