Nikola Kedhi: Rama is misusing the Yale report, Albania's ranking is not an achievement of the government

The Deputy Chairman of the Democratic Party, Nikola Kedhi, has reacted to Prime Minister Edi Rama's statements regarding Albania's ranking in the Yale University report on environmental performance, accusing the government of propaganda and misuse of figures.

 According to Kedhi, the fact that Albania ranks 46th in the world and first in the Western Balkans is true, but according to him, the interpretation of this ranking by the Prime Minister is wrong.

He argued that Albania's improvement in ranking is mainly related to the fact that most of its electricity is produced by hydroelectric power plants, an advantage that he said has existed for decades and is not a result of the current government's policies.

 Kedhi focused on some of the report's specific indicators, emphasizing that Albania has poor results in areas such as agriculture, wastewater management, and the use of agricultural inputs.

According to the DP vice-chairman, indicators for nitrogen, phosphorus management and the risk of pesticide pollution also show serious problems related to soil, water and food security.

He also mentioned Albania's ranking for air quality, where according to him the country is ranked 88th in the world.

In his response, Kedhi called for more investments in wastewater treatment, air monitoring, agricultural land protection, and conservation of protected areas.

Full reaction:

Propaganda has a simple rule: take one true fact and hide nine others. That's exactly what the Prime Minister has done with the Yale University report on environmental performance.

The Prime Minister enthusiastically announced that Albania ranks 46th in the world and first among the Western Balkan countries.

The figure is true. The story that Edi Rama builds on this figure is a lie.

The index consists of 47 different indicators. Albania's ranking improves mainly because we produce most of our electricity from hydroelectric power plants, which pollute less than coal or oil. This is an advantage that Albania has had for decades, not an achievement of this government.

But once we move from the overall ranking to the components that measure concrete policies and the functioning of the state, the propaganda falls away.

In agriculture, Albania ranks 158th in the world and 17th among the 19 countries in the region where Yale classifies us. For sustainable nitrogen management, we are 150th, while for phosphorus surplus, we are 139th. The indicator of risk from pesticide pollution has also worsened. These figures speak of soil damage, water pollution, food security and the lack of a modern model for Albanian agriculture.

For polluted water, Albania ranks 138th in the world and 18th among the 19 countries in the region. Our score is only 12.7 points, while the regional average is over 63 points.

We rank 88th for air quality.

There is another fact that refutes the attempt to present this as a historical achievement.

In the 2006 pilot index, Albania ranked 55th. In 2008, it was within the top 30 countries in the world. The methodology has changed and the rankings cannot be compared mechanically, but one thing is indisputable: the 46th place today is neither a historical record nor proof of some miracle of the Rama government.

We see the environment not as a propagandistic decoration nor as an obstacle to development, but as a national asset and a source of economic development. Albania needs functional water treatment plants, real air monitoring, a vision for agriculture that protects the land and food, truly helps farmers, as well as protected areas that are protected by law, not torn apart for the interests of power clients.

The enemy of both the environment and development is corruption and a state that uses nature as government property.

Propaganda can misuse numbers on paper. But it can never change the quality of the air we all breathe every day, clean rivers, protect forests, or save Albanian biodiversity when the opposite is true.

The Yale report is not an indictment of Albania and its natural resources. It is an indictment of this government's failure to protect the environment.