Following the events of November 1989 (the anti-Communist revolution), the environment ranked among the issues considered most important by the public. This was a consequence of the very real environmental problems and, in particular, the fact that the environment was among the many issues which could be openly discussed during the final years of Communist rule. The conservation movement was one of the links held in common by those in resistance to the regime. The architects of the changes after November 1989 were recruited primarily from the ranks of this resistance movement.

Since then, the environment has been the subject of several legislative changes for the better and many real changes for the worse, including the impact of the "concrete lobby" (Enterprise Vodohospodárske stavby and Industry of construction materials) on the construction of still more new dams and reservoirs (Gab íkovo, Turcek and Studeny Potok), the new nuclear power plant at Mochovce, the occasional scandals surrounding the importation of hazardous waste from the West, and the ever more frequent oil pipeline accidents in Ukraine, with the worrisome implications for the border river areas of the Uh and Bodrog rivers.

There are presently three political parties in Slovakia representing the Greens: the Green Party in Slovakia, the Slovak Green Alternative and the Green Party. The first two are represented in Parliament as members of coalitions led by more powerful parties. However, the division of the Greens into so many parties and the competition among these parties render the political incentives to protect the environment less compelling.

Because of the tradition of the environmental movement in Slovakia, NGOs working in this area are among the most efficient. The most influential are Tree of Life, the Slovak Society of Nature and Landscape Conservationists (both of these were active long before the breakdown of the Communist regime), the Society for Sustainable Life, and Greenpeace. Greenpeace has become especially active and visible in connection with protests against the construction of a nuclear power plant at Mochovce.