Skopje's Greening Master Plan and Green Cadaster - Against a Tree-Protection Law Developers Buy Their Way Out Of

The City of Skopje's 2023 'Skopje Greening Master Plan - Growing Equity in City Green Space' reports 5,051,807 m2 of registered green area, equivalent to 12.07 m2 per resident - about half the 25 m2 per capita benchmark commonly cited for European cities. Through August 2023 the plan recorded 31,412 plants and 1,076,954 flowers newly planted, alongside a target of 100,000 native-species seedlings per year for afforestation around the city, underpinned by a digitised 'Green Cadaster' that maps and catalogues individual public trees and shrubs for ongoing management.

The plan follows a 2018 national Law on Urban Greenery intended to guarantee tree protection in a city that regularly ranks among the world's most polluted. An independent 2023 investigation by Balkan Insight found the law has not stopped tree loss: developers who cut down protected trees can simply pay a fixed penalty, which is often cheaper than preserving the trees and forgoing construction space, so removals have continued.

The case illustrates a genuine institutional investment - a costed master plan, a digitised tree inventory, and binding legislation - running alongside a documented enforcement gap that independent reporting, not the city's own materials, brought to light.

Read the full analysis: https://zivotnasredina.skopje.gov.mk/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/SkopjeGreeningMasterPlan_compressed.pdf