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INBO Newsletter n° 21 - April 2013
50
Europe
Kosovo
European twinning
for environmental capacity building
Kosovo is still facing environmental
problems, concerning water, waste and
land management in particular.
Kosovo has made progress on adopting
a new legislation but more work is nee-
ded to create an administrative envi-
ronment that will ensure further
approximation to European standards.
To this end, a 2-year European twinning
project was launched in December
2011 in order to build the capacity of
the Kosovo Ministry of Environ-
ment and Spatial Planning (MESP),
which is the competent Authority for
waste, water management, nature pro-
tection and planning, and of other sta-
keholders in the environmental sector.
Italy and France are participating in this
twinning.
Regarding the water component,
experts from the French Ministry of
Ecology, Rhine-Meuse Water Agency
and International Office for Water are
being working jointly with their Kosovo
counterparts to exchange on expe-
riences and to develop recommenda-
tions on
WFD implementation and
elaboration of River Basin Mana-
gement Plans, pollution control,
and to strengthen the Water Infor-
mation System in Kosovo.
The Lumbardhi i Peja River
Free speech
World Wildlife Fund - WWF:
Making hydropower sustainable in the Western Balkans -
the DASHI project
South-Eastern Europe hosts outstan-
ding biodiversity sites. However, a
growing number of hydropower deve-
lopments could seriously threaten key
ecosystems, rivers and lakes, and
local economies which rely on these
natural resources.
In order to ensure that develop-
ment is in harmony with nature
and people, WWF-Mediterranean
started the Dinaric Arc Sustaina-
ble Hydropower Initiative - DASHI.
Stretching over 100,000 km
2
approxi-
mately between Slovenia, Croatia,
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia,
Montenegro and Albania, the Dinaric
Arc region is home to natural treasures
that make it a biodiversity hotspot of
Europe. Still pristine rivers and lakes
surrounded by rich forests and specta-
cular canyons and a complex network
of underground rivers, marshes and
wetlands, create the perfect condi-
tions for life to blossom.
The Dinaric Arc, however, is facing an
unprecedented hydropower boom.
Abundant water resources and in-
crease in the local demand for energy,
combined with troubled economies,
have fostered the development of new
hydropower projects throughout the
region.
If not well planned, hydropower deve-
lopments can irreversibly damage
pristine freshwater ecosystems, as
well as create significant economic,
social and environmental impacts for
the local population.
The region is also increasingly facing
climate change that has a negative
impact on hydropower production.
Outstanding freshwater ecosystems
such as Skadar Lake in Montenegro
and Albania, Hutovo Blato and
Livanjsko Polje in Bosnia and Herze-
govina - all Ramsar sites - are threa-
tened.
Through the DASHI project, WWF
aims to safeguard these priority areas
and to ensure that planned hydropo-
wer projects are conceived in a sustai-
nable way.
In cooperation with local NGOs
(farmers, fishermen, etc.) and interna-
tional organizations such as Transpa-
rency International, WWF is providing
scientific arguments for mobilizing
civil society to foster dialogue with all
sectors involved in hydropower.
A vast array of actors are targeted,
from international finance institutions
to government and electricity utilities,
through capacity building, discussion
and communication, pushing for a
common understanding and the appli-
cation of sustainable approaches to
hydropower in the region.
Chantal Menard
Bojan Stojanovic
Grabovica dam
on Neretva river,
Bosnia and Herzegovina
wwf.panda.org
