The residents of Ljubojno scored a rare win over the state. After their protest against the plan for major logging in the forest above the village, on the slopes of Pelister, the authorities backed down: the plan will be revised.

The forest set to be cut is part of the area under Pelister National Park. Ljubojno's residents pushed back, organized pressure, and forced the institution to change the logging permit. In a Macedonia where citizen resistance rarely wins a campaign against a tender - this is a small but meaningful exception.

The "clear-cut" plan - cutting every tree on a given plot with nothing left - is a method with direct ecological consequences: soil erosion, disruption of the water regime, biodiversity loss. Right next to a protected national park, such operations are especially problematic.

"Revising" the plan still doesn't mean cancelling it. The questions remain: who approved the tender, who got the contract, and why under Pelister. The small win is real - but the final story of the forest above Ljubojno hasn't been written yet.