Celebrating 25 Years of Action for Biodiversity

With over 5,200 ha of natural forest and woodland over 200 years old, Albania’s highlands sustain ecosystems that are not only important for biodiversity, but have also become a growing tourist attraction [ ] 45 Managing legislation for protecting biological and landscape diversity Albania has passed a law to safeguard the preservation, administration, management and use of protected areas and their natural and biolog- ical resources. This facilitates the conditions for the development of environmental tourism, as well as the education of the general public, for direct or indirect economic benefit to the local population, through the public and private sectors. The law regulates the protection of six cate- gories of protected areas within the country. The categorization of areas and the status and level of protection for each is based on criteria given by the World Centre of Nature Conser- vation (IUCN). The implementation of strategies for nature and biodiversity has helped Albania achieve the targets of the Intersectoral Environmental Strat- egy (2007–2013) and the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action of 2000. This framework has contribut- ed to the extension of protected areas, which currently stand at 460,021ha. The IUCN Red List of Fauna and Flo- ra has been completed and updated with the provision of a legal basis for protection. Single species action plans have been elaborated for six species and habitats. Ten management plans for protected areas, especially for national parks, have been elaborated and implemented, while ten more plans are being drafted. The manage- ment plans have drastically improved the status of conservation for threat- ened species and their habitats. Albania has been, and continues to be, a participant in European and re- gional initiatives related to the CBD, especially in the PAN-European Strategy on Biological and Land- scape Diversity (PESBLD). The main objectives for implementing the CBD and PEBLDS are the protection and improvement of biological and land- scape diversity; the incorporation of principles and policies required for sustainable biodiversity use and management; and promotion of sus- tainable development for present and future generations. Future targets for Albania include: ensuring full approximation and implementation of the EU acquis in the field of nature protection by 2020; and restoring at least 15 per cent of degraded areas through conservation and restoration activities — in line with Aichi targets — to be achieved through the implementation of man- agement plans for protected areas and through the implementation of single species action plans for species and habitats. The sustaining ecosystems of Albania’s unique highlands Albania A lbania’s territory is divided into three habitats of coastal, sub-mountainous, and mountainous zones. Forest and pastures show a high diversity of Mediterranean shrubs. Along the coastline there are various ecosystems such as lakes, wetlands, sand dunes, river deltas and forests. Coastal lagoons and lakes are important areas for wintering migratory birds. However, Albania is home to 91 threatened ornithofauna species and is of critical importance to some of them, such as the Pelecanus crispus, Phalacrocorax pygmeus, and Acipenser sturio. The country is the native land of 30 species of crop, 9 autochthonous breeds of goats and 5 breeds of sheep. Jimbo on flickr