Albania was subjected to very strict communist rule for a period of about 55 years. The Albanian society was much more restricted from contact with other countries than many of the other former communist ruled nations of CEE. This perhaps explains the fact that protests against the political system started only at the end of 1990. Those protests started among students, mainly for economic reasons, and were later supported by intellectuals and the working class. The repression was so fierce that a dissident movement could never really develop. In early 1991, the first free elections were held, but they were won by the Socialist Party. Another year of protests followed and, in 1992, after the second free elections in Albania, the Social Democratic Party established itself as the largest party in the country and the democratization process made a real start.
In the early days of the political transformation process, the environment became a relatively important political issue. The environmental problems in Albania were most visible negative effects of the totalitarian system and the uttering of environmental protest was seen as an expression of anti-communist ideas. In the early days of the new government environmental NGOs formed, from which the Association for the Preservation and Protection of the Natural Environment of Albania (PPNEA) has become the most important voice for the environment outside the government.
In the following years the importance of the environment as a political issue decreased. Although two years ago the Committee of Environmental Protection (CEP) was established within the Ministry of Health, the political importance of environmental problems is rather low. This Committee has little real authority. In fact, it consists of only 11 experts and it does not have an independent status. While it has considerable power under the environmental protection law it has not been able to exercise this power. The position of the Green Party in Albania is illustrative as well: it has no representatives in the Parliament and it is not considered to be a serious partner by the other parties.
The restructurization from a planned to a free market economy is the cause of many problems in Albania. Inflation was enormous in the beginning and the country experienced rates of 50% monthly. By the end of 1993, however, inflation stabilized at a rate of 3 to 4% per month. The privatization process is having rather extreme effects on Albanian industry. Only very few State companies survived the privatization process. Most of the enterprises in sectors like the chemical, metallurgical, and mechanical industries, have been closed down because of outdated technologies and inefficient production systems. Although the impact of closing down major industrial operations has been disastrous on the economy and employment, the impact on the state of the environment is without doubt positive. The air pollution resulting from industry, has decreased to a great extent. The quality of surface water and groundwater has also improved, as well as the quality of soil. These improvements are partly overshadowed by the fact that the closed down operations have left Albania with serious problems due to persistent pollution created in the past.
The enterprises that have not been closed down are mostly still State property. These enterprises are facing financial difficulties and are often barely able to pay their employees' salaries. It's not surprising that those enterprises are not able (nor sometimes willing) to invest in the environment. However, it seems that new enterprises are not interested in environmental investments as well. The motivations for foreign companies to start in Albania may be related to the lax environmental requirements. In the early days following democratization no environmental legislation existed and no control on the establishment of new companies was present. As a result, many illegal activities were set up at that time.
Privatization has also occurred in the agricultural sector, with somewhat more success than the industrial sector. About 70% of State-owned land has been privatized thus far. Besides the social problems (occasional disputes between former and future landowners) the privatization in agriculture led to the redistribution of agricultural lands. Land from former cooperatives has been divided into small pieces. In order to increase the workable surface area, terraces are being cut into the mountainsides. The effect of this terrace building is disastrous soil erosion. On the other hand, the use of pesticides and fertilizers has decreased in recent years, because they are too expensive for the private landowners and farmers are too inexperienced with the use of them. Under the former political system, farmers used to be advised by State experts in the cooperatives on the use of fertilizers and pesticides. The conclusion can be drawn that the privatization of land had both positive (reduction of use of pesticides and fertilizer) and negative effects (soil erosion) on the environment.
The climate for foreign investments is just now becoming favorable. Foreign investors are attracted by the Albanian government to assist in building up the tourist industry in the country. The government recently presented a Masterplan on Tourism and established a Ministry of Tourism. The development of tourism includes, however, a potential risk for damaging valuable nature areas in the future. The Ministry of Tourism employs one person who is responsible for the environmental aspects of proposed activities. However, no language regarding the environment can be found in the Law on Priority Tourism Development Zones, which became effective in January 1993, and no representative from the Committee for Environmental Preservation and Protection is included on the Tourism Development Committee.
Open borders and new relationships with foreign countries have led to the import of Western goods in Albania. While the incomes are still quite low (the average annual income in 1992 was USD 500), Western products have started to become visible, with a prime example being cars. Under the communist government, cars were hardly seen in Albania. Now old and polluting cars, often second-hand vehicles from Western European countries, are considered trophies. As a result, the quality of the air in cities is decreasing rapidly.
The first years after the political transformation in Albania can best be described as an anarchy. The democratization process gave citizens new freedom, which they felt they could exercise without regard to the consequences. This new freedom of choice sometimes led to serious environmental damages. An example of this is the unlimited cutting of wood for fuel. Most of the households in Albania and all of the households in the countryside, are dependent on fuel wood for heating. Albania has been struggling, for many decades, with the problem of providing sufficient heating for dwellings. The recent reduction in the energy supply caused the shortage to become even more severe. In the last 45 years 30% of the forest area has been destroyed by the clear-cutting activities of Albanian citizens and foreign companies. In addition, hunting and fishing, as well as the sale of medicinal plant species, have become popular ways of earning hard currency. Rare bird species and fish have been exported and sold for relatively high prices. The hunting practices themselves often have serious consequences. For example, explosives used for fishing are damaging the habitats. Although laws on hunting and fishing were established in the 1970's, no means for the enforcement of these laws exist.
Unemployment in Albania is extremely high. The personal problems of the people with regard to their basic needs are enormous. As many people in Albania are homeless, unemployed, and live in poverty conditions, it is understandable that the environment is not a priority issue among the population. The environmental awareness of the public can be described as very low. Unemployment in the countryside has also resulted in a rapid growth of the cities. Tirana grew in a few years from 300,000 to 400,000 inhabitants. The new inhabitants, often people from the northern mountainous parts of Albania, settle mainly in the suburbs of the cities, where the infrastructure is not sufficient to support the increasing populations. The rapid urbanization significantly increases the pollution in cities because adequate waste management is lacking and the water supply is poor.
The environmental situation in Albania is, compared to many other CEE countries, rather good. The quality of air, water and soil evidently increased during the transition period. However, reliable data on the state of the environment are not available. Albania's nature can be described as unique and relatively untouched. Parts of the coastal zones were protected areas or military zones, so access to them was forbidden. The flora and fauna in those coastal zones is said to be very diverse, containing several endemic species and medicinal plants. The lagoons in the coastal zones, glacial lakes in the North of the country and forests from Mesozoic origin are additional areas of great natural value. Albania also has great resource deposits of oil, gas, coal, copper, iron, nickel and is one of the world's largest producers of chrome. Albania can base its free market economy on the exploitation of these resources. The country is already a net exporter of energy, mainly derived from hydroelectric power. As a final resource for economic development the coastal nature areas are seen as having significant potential for the development of tourism. The relatively untouched natural areas, with their valuable ecosystems, hold particular potential for the development of ecotourism.
Unlike the situation in many other CEE countries, Albania's environment is not mainly threatened by industrial pollution. New companies that were or will be set up are a potential threat for Albania's environment. Many examples of the establishment of new companies, mostly foreign, are known to pose real threats to the environment. In the beginning of the transition period no control was exercised over the establishment of new companies. These firms, usually small or medium sized, often began operations without consideration of environmental protection, or even worse, their main activity was sometimes precisely the exploitation of Albania's natural areas. For example, the hunting of rare bird species for export earnings, unlimited fishing with the use of explosives, and foreign orders for the delivering of rare pines for Christmas trees are all ongoing, unregulated activities. Forest areas have been seriously damaged by illegal tree cutting. Other environmental damages result from the absence of sewage treatment plants (which threatens drinking water supplies) and modern waste management facilities. Living conditions in the city of Tirana continue to decline as its population grows well beyond the capacity of its infrastructure.
Several industrial hot spots were mentioned by the experts. The town of Lac is situated in an industrial area with a copper smelting facility. The health situation there has become so bad that people are being evacuated. (The new Environmental Protection Law contains provisions forbidding industrial activities close to living areas in the future.) The evacuation of inhabitants also took place near Vlor‘, a coastal city near the peninsula of Karaburun, due largely to pollution from a nearby PVC factory. The metallurgical and copper mining and treatment industries are also explicitly identified as environmental threats. The petroleum industry is also causing enormous environmental problems in the country. The heating plants that run on petroleum (and coal) are usually situated close to urban areas, e.g., near Korca, Fieri, Ballshi and Tirana. None of the heating plants have introduced clean-technologies or pollution control equipment.
The collection of fuel wood for home heating grew over the last few years in part as a result of the closing of some power industry operations. The supply of electricity and heat has always been a problem in Albania, but this situation has been exacerbated over the last years. While the country produces a small excess of electric power, which is mainly distributed for industrial activities or exported, this power is unavailable for household use due to the lack of infrastructure. Estimates are made that 80 to 90% of the Albanian households rely on wood as fuel. Wide-scale woodcutting is resulting in rapid deforestation.
The deforestation mentioned above, together with terrace building in agriculture is causing enormous soil erosion. With privatization in the agricultural sector leading to smaller plots of land, farmers are trying to work every possible square meter. Terrace building in the hills and mountain areas allows more arable land but the fertile topsoil is being eroded at an alarming rate as a result.
Albania's water quality suffers as a result of the absence of sewage treatment facilities. One expert stated that in 800 places in Tirana, leakages of sewage water into drinking water occur. (This number was refuted by an other expert, however, who said that the actual number of leakages is much smaller.) The lack of a sound solid waste collection and treatment system is another major problem and has resulted in a growing amount of waste in the cities. The growing population in the cities is increasing the generation of waste, thus increasingly affecting citizens' health and living conditions.
One of the most important steps to be taken is the institutional strengthening of the CEP, which was established within the Ministry of Health in March 1992. The Committee is responsible for the development and implementation of environmental policy in Albania. The Committee needs to be expanded and given more authority to properly carry out its mandate. It was reported that this will only be possible if the Committee is made independent of the Ministry of Health. CEP was also criticized for spending too much time on international relations and not enough time on domestic issues. Additionally, the development of regional or local environmental structures is also needed. It was reported that currently regional and local authorities do not have any responsibility with respect to the environment. In relation to this the parliament will probably approve the employment of 35 more experts that will act as Environmental Inspectors at the district level. It was also explained that training for environmental experts and decision-makers is very much needed to improve environmental management. This management could be improved if money collected through environmental taxes and pollution fines were earmarked for environmental purposes rather than absorbed into the general state budget. More data on the state of the environment and nature of Albania are also necessary to better judge the possibilities and costs for improvements. Therefore, setting up a sound monitoring system is essential.
Recently, the CEP developed, in cooperation with the World Bank, an Environmental Strategy Study for Albania. This Strategy contains recommendations, actions and options regarding: pricing policy and economic restructuring; the legal and regulatory framework; institutional strengthening; environmental financing and investment; public participation and information, and; specific environmental problems (i.e. soil erosion, deforestation, urban pollution).The CEP wants to develop its policy according to the "polluter pays" principle and will focus on the management of past pollution, prevention of new pollution and the raising of public awareness. The impression exists that for the time being the environmental policy is not being established according to a clear framework or structure. Because of the very limited financial resources of the CEP the formation of an environmental policy is highly dependent on external funding and can be characterized as ad hoc policy.
Recently, the General Law on Environmental Protection has been approved by the Parliament of Albania. This law is the first environmental law in the country, dealing with the whole range of environmental problems. The General Law on Environmental Protection has been criticized as being too general by many environmental advocates, although it is perceived as a good start. Some experts mentioned the importance of bringing Albania's legislation and standards in accordance with existing international legislation and standards. According to many of the experts, additional provisions on several topics (e.g., on nature protection) are necessary to make the law useful. A Hazardous Waste Law has been drafted and due to the combined effort of several ministries, laws on forestry and hunting were approved and a law on fishing is expected to follow soon. A Law on Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is in preparation. This is Albania's first experience with EIA regulations and a legislative framework is lacking. It is very important to apply EIA legislation that is specific to Albania's needs and circumstances It is expected that EIA requirements will first be applied to specified industrial activities and the development of tourism in the coastal areas. However, implementation of EIA legislation is only planned for the longer term (3-5 years).
The CEP, with its 11 experts, is responsible for the environmental law enforcement in the whole country. Under these circumstances it is understandable that enforcement is rather problematic, although the CEP has the right (by the establishment of the General Law on Environmental Protection) to fine companies that do not meet their duties. In practice, however, hardly any measures have been taken against companies or individuals that have broken the law. In the first years after the political transition, this lack of enforcement resulted in a situation in which new companies (many of them foreign-owned) could begin operations without observing the laws. In those early years only a few, outdated environmental laws existed. Currently, while the new General Law of Environmental Protection is in effect and the CEP has been given the authority to fine companies for continuing proscribed activities, this does not happen in practice. Hopefully the situation is going to change soon, as the parliament agreed on the expansion of the CEP by employing 35 environmental inspectors on the district level. Although protests were heard against a district approach and in favor of local inspectorates, the employment of those inspectors for the country is a first step to improve enforcement of the law. In addition to the lack of manpower, enforcement is also obstructed by the fact that state companies have special governmental protection. The biggest and most polluting companies are still state property in Albania. As they already have serious difficulty in paying the salaries of their employees, they are more or less freed from environmental investment obligations. While some are required to pay fines, they are still net receivers of state money.
Raising environmental awareness is considered by the experts as a critical step towards achieving future environmental improvements. Environmental education (at all levels of the society) has been mentioned as crucial for establishing a future basis for environmental improvement and protection. Legislation, economic instruments and other tools can never stand alone when the public, as well as decision-makers, do not support such steps. The training of environmental experts and decision-makers is very important for the development of needed programs, policies and campaigns. Exchange of information and experience with Western experts is crucial in this regard. Environmental education is not currently integrated in a structural way in lessons at schools or universities and is also not provided elsewhere. The government (represented by the CEP) and the NGOs each perceive environmental education as the responsibility of the other body.
More financial resources are necessary for the funding of environmental projects in Albania. Most experts agree that Albania cannot provide the necessary funding and that foreign investments and grants must be obtained. However, some experts claim that the introduction and implementation of the "polluter pays" principle should provide financial resources for environmental improvements on a more consistent basis. While most of the experts did not stress the need for new technologies it was noted that the country is seriously lacking adequate wastewater treatment plants and modern waste management facilities.
The changes in the economic sector in Albania are very important driving forces behind the improvement as well as the deterioration of the state of the environment. The economic problems in Albania are so severe that they receive priority attention from the government. The only way to build up the economy is to create a better climate for the establishment of economic activities, to which foreign investors are especially attracted. Macro-economic stabilization is a priority in Albania in order to attract those investors. Privatization is playing an integral role in the country's economic plans. Privatization in agriculture and industry has had enormous positive, as well as negative, impacts on the environment as already described.
From the beginning of the transition period foreign companies have been interested in Albania. In the beginning, many examples of illegal exports (i.e. rare bird species) and imports (i.e. pesticides) and illegal establishment were evident, with mainly unfavorable environmental effects. Only recently, foreign companies have been interested in investing in Albania on a more legal basis as the economy seems to be stabilizing. At the moment the Albanian government is strongly trying to attract foreign investors to help develop tourism.
The new contacts abroad have led to Albania's participation in international projects and organizations. The contacts with other countries have helped Albania to be more aware of its environmental problems and to understand more about the country's situation. NGOs especially seemed to gain important new ideas from contacts abroad.
The government is, in fact, the only decisive authority in environmental policy-making. Within the government, the CEP is the main driving force for improvement, supported by the advice of the NGOs (mainly PPNEA with whom the Committee has good relations). However, the position of the CEP within the government is relatively weak and needs strengthening.
Due to the present enormity of the economic and social problems in Albania the development of the economy is the leading priority among politicians, the government and the public. The integration of environmental policy with other policies is thus perceived as a low priority. An additional barrier is the fact that CEP is a very small authority, and lacks the influence and institutional strength to achieve such integration. The success of the CEP efforts may be hindered by weak relations with other ministries and parliament and in any case cooperation between them is insufficient.
Decision-makers, as well as people with scientific or NGO backgrounds, do not seem to realize that economic benefits can be derived from environmental investments and vice versa. The relationship between these two concepts is not recognized. In addition they do not seem to be aware of the environmental consequences of some economic activities. Economic and environmental problems are considered as completely separate problems, and when faced with a choice the economic considerations always prevail. The general idea is that first the economic situation must improve before environmental measures can be taken.
A new law requiring the use of EIAs is being drafted and should help in integrating environmental protection and economic development. It is expected that EIA requirements will first be applied to specified industrial activities and the development of tourism in the coastal areas. However, it is believed that a few years will be required before EIAs can be fully utilized. Although not intended as a measure for environmental protection, the price increases for water and energy could be mentioned here. The Ministry of Finance recently raised the prices of water and energy. The low prices of those resources have contributed to enormous wastes in the past. The price raises could be a useful step towards preventing those wastes in the future.
The financial resources of the CEP are very limited. The Committee is allotted a yearly budget which is not substantial and is sufficient only to pay for staff and some small scale projects. Income from fines is minimal according to the experts. The General Law on Environmental Protection gives the CEP the authority to fine polluters. However, this instrument has thus far been ineffective due to lack of enforcement. Although future adaptations of the "polluter pays" principle could be a source for financing, there are no financial solutions for the management of past pollution in Albania. According to the government, including the CEP, newly established industries can not be charged for past pollution. The CEP is currently discussing the introduction of an environmental tax in Albania. However, those discussions are purely conceptual and there seems to be little prospect for, as well as no experience with, the introduction of this instrument. These ideas are not expected to become practical realities in the near future. For the time being Albania is mostly dependent on foreign assistance and investments for major environmental protection efforts.
Cooperation with other countries in the region does not exist on a systematic basis. Seminars and conferences are occasionally organized, however, they do not contribute to environmental improvement in a consistent or stabile way. Although the region has many environmental experts, they were all educated under the communist system and do not have experience in coping with the current problems. There is some exchange of information and experience within the region on the government and NGO level. The extent of Albania's international cooperation in the region does not go much beyond its neighbors. Cooperative projects have been implemented mostly with respect to border areas, e.g., natural areas, transboundary rivers, lakes, and seas. Albania is currently negotiating with the FYR Macedonia about the border lakes (Ohrid and Prespa). The CEP claims that its very limited staff makes expanding foreign relations not feasible.
Western assistance in Albania was initially in the form of food supplies. Albania was one of the last countries in the region to receive Western environmental assistance. Western environmental assistance in Albania has mainly gone for carrying out studies. Real investments are only expected to occur after the year 2000. Albania has bilateral environmental cooperation with Holland and Germany. As mentioned before, the World Bank assisted in the elaboration of an Environmental Action Strategy, with additional funding from the EC PHARE Program, and is assisting in carrying out a broad and complex study on the environmental situation in Albania. EBRD is the main financier of a tourist development plan in the coastal area in the Southern part of Albania. It is unclear to what extent environmental concerns are being integrated in this development project. Finally, Albania also cooperates with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) on the protection of one of the country's lagoons and with United Nations Environmental Program on coastal zone management.
Some criticism has been put forward with respect to some Western assistance projects regarding the fact that a substantial part of the money for Albania is spent on expensive consultants. These consultants are generally perceived as people who earn a lot money for the collection of data which are already available in the receiving country. Most of the experts asked for more real cooperation with Albanian experts instead of only using the results of work already conducted in the country. Western assistance is only useful when the experience and results do not disappear abroad, but stay in Albania. Furthermore, the endless project cycles that are necessary to prepare a project were criticized. A concrete example was given about Albania's need to build a sewage water treatment plant. According to the CEP it is not necessary to elaborate endless studies on sewage water treatment plants, but they should just be built and copied from already existing examples.
An overall conclusion on Western assistance was that it is seen as insufficient and often ineffective in the manner which it is provided. A better equilibrium should be found between financial and technical support, as well as the exchange of information and experience. The latter is often lacking and probably of fundamental importance for the future development of Albania's environmental policies and actions. One of the respondents formulated the need for assistance as follows: "Albania needs support on issues in which Western countries have more experience. Albania faces an enormous growth in automobile use and needs assistance to tackle the problems that occur in relation to this growth, e.g., air pollution and insufficient infrastructure." Another issue that was mentioned was ecological agriculture. Western countries conducted many studies on the possibilities of ecological agriculture. In fact, Albania has a form of ecological agriculture since no fertilizers and pesticides are used at the moment. Albania may be able to develop its agriculture further in this way and make it an important export product. However, Western assistance will probably be necessary in order to develop ecological agriculture techniques.
The national government has the final decisive voice and does not give high priority to environmental problems. Albania faces severe economic and social problems, which the government wants to tackle first. Although a Parliamentary Committee exists that deals with environmental problems, it does not seem to have any perceptible impact. The CEP is responsible for environmental administration at the national level, yet consists of eleven people. Soon, this body will be expanded by experts who will be responsible for enforcement of the General Law on the district level. The CEP is only a department of the Ministry of Health and has no independent status. Its influence on national decision-making is limited.
The municipality of Tirana has an Environmental Office, which is involved in the solution of urban environmental problems. However, they have no decisive power for implementing environmental policy. The establishment of this office seems to be more of an unofficial personal achievement by certain individuals than an official, accepted structure within the municipal government.
The influence of academics is mainly passive. They are often sought for advice by the CEP. Scientists do not seem to unite together for environmental progress, but rather act as individuals. However, many scientists (especially in the biological sciences) are NGO members.
The role of NGOs in the environmental decision-making process is very limited. The position of the environmental NGOs seems to have diminished since the initial political changes in Albania. However, some groups (especially PPNEA and the Biologists Association) regularly contribute advice and expertise to the CEP. For instance, they were consulted for their opinion about the Draft Law on Hazardous Waste. Despite their relatively weak position in society and their weak influence on the decision-making process, some NGO actions have had successful results. They have overturned some governmental decisions and they occasionally receive broad support from the public. Some PPNEA members are journalists working on environmental documentaries. Although PPNEA has been making television programs for a few years they believe that these programs have just recently reached a significant number of people.