GFA backstopper visits Transboundary Biosphere Reserve Prespa project in Albania

Posted on 15 Oct, 2019 by Constanze Schaaff

Andreas Graefen of GFA headquarters visited the Transboundary Biosphere Reserve Prespa project in Albania during 16-20 Sept, 2019. He met representatives of KfW Tirana, project directors of the Ministry of Tourism and Environment, the National Agency of Protected Areas, GFA’s consortium partner, the Institute for Nature Conservation of Albania (INCA), and the PRESPA Albania team comprising consultants as well as the regional administration of Korce.

As a backstopper to the project, he participated in the statuary meeting of the Regional Advisory Group, a participatory coordination mechanism created at the level of Prespa National Park. A variety of stakeholders - the prefecture, municipalities, communities, NGOs and producer associations, the church, border police and school - cooperate with each other to increase the effectiveness of PRESPA Albania activities. They facilitate communication with the protected area (PA) administration, the PRESPA Albania project, and relevant communities. Most importantly, they assist, coordinate and monitor the project's socio-economic development program.

Andreas Graefen was also introduced to the forest management scheme successfully implemented by the Regional Administration of Protected Areas (RAPA) Korce in order to meet the firewood needs of the local population. Step-by-step, RAPA aims at improving the forest structure from coppice stands to close- to-nature forest stands.
The Transboundary Biosphere Reserve Prespa project aims at the reducing the pressure on natural resources while contributing to poverty alleviation in the Albanian part of the Ohrid-Prespa Transboundary Biosphere Reserve. Thus, the project helps conserving biodiversity and improving the livelihoods of the population in the Prespa National Park and in the Albanian part of the Biosphere Reserve. The project started in May 2018 and will be completed in April 2021. It is co-financed by the Federal Republic of Germany through KfW Development Bank and implemented by  GFA Consulting Group and INCA.

> More information on project activities can be retrieved on Facebook

Former news about the project:

> May, 2019: Earth Day celebration in Prespa National Park in Albania
> May, 2019: BMZ visits Transboundary Biosphere Reserve Prespa Project
> Feb., 2019: Prespa Winter Fest on International Wetland Day
October, 2018
> Video published about the events on support to the the Ohrid-Prespa region in Albania
> Sustainable tourism in the Ohrid-Prespa region in Albania
> Albanian Prime Minister and Minister of Tourism and Environment visit Transboundary Biosphere Reserve Prespa project area