Project

Enhancing financial sustainability of the protected area system in Albania

Lead country

Albania

Participating countries

Albania

Project status

Under implementation

Implementing period

From February 16, 2017 to August 15, 2022

SDGs addressed by this project

SDG targets

  1. 15.a Mobilize resources for biodiversity conservation, sustainable use
  2. 15.b Mobilize resources, incentives for sustainable forest management

Project ID: 5602

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Technical team

  • Ecosystems and Biodiversity Programme

Technical area(s)

  • Ecosystem management and restoration

Sub-area(s)

  • Biodiversity financing
  • Wildlife conservation

Landscape(s)

  • Conserved areas

Sub-landscape(s)

  • Marine and coastal protected areas
  • Terrestrial protected areas

Transformed sector(s)

  • Other sectors
  • Tourism

UNDP role(s)

  • Capacity development / Technical assistance
  • Institutional mechanism and system building

Strategy

  • Finance economy
  • Capacity building
  • Management operation

Sub-strategy

  • Nature finance
  • New/other financial schemes/mechanism
  • Institutional capacity building
  • Technical capacity building
  • Education/Courses
  • Management effectiveness (METT)
  • Knowledge/Data management
  • Sustainable land management

Social inclusion

N/A

Gender equality

N/A

Gender result effectiveness scale

  • Gender targeted

Pathway(s)

  • Systems pathway

Risk reduction target(s)

  • Hazard control/mitigation
  • Improve resilience

SDG target(s)

  • 15.a Mobilize resources for biodiversity conservation, sustainable use
  • 15.b Mobilize resources, incentives for sustainable forest management

Conventions and protocols

  • National Action Plan
  • Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)
  • National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs)

Private sector(s)

N/A

Hot topic

N/A

About this project

Description

The Government of Albania (GoA) has recently gazetted a ‘Decision on establishing and organisation and functioning of the national agency for protected areas and regional administration for protected areas'. The Decision envisages the establishment of a National Agency of Protected Areas (NAPA) as a public state budget entity subordinate to the Ministry of Environment (MoE). The expectation of the GoA is that the establishment of this agency would, over the long-term, result in a significant improvement in the overall management effectiveness of the country's system of protected areas, covering 460,060ha of marine and terrestrial habitats.While this Decision makes provision for the NAPA to source funding from the state budget, donors, delivery of ‘services' and ‘other legal sources', the current funding baselines for the PA system, and the capacities to administer and improve PA revenue streams, are still well below the levels required to ensure that the protected area system can properly serve its function as an important tool to protect biodiversity. So, if the NAPA is to fulfil its protected area mandate, it will need to have the ability to: (i) secure sufficient, stable and long-term financial resources for protected areas; (ii) allocate these resources in a timely manner and appropriate form to cover the full costs of protected areas; and (iii) ensure that the protected areas are managed effectively and efficiently with respect to conservation and other complementary objectives.This project seeks to assist the GoA in reducing existing funding gaps for the system of protected areas, improving the management of individual protected areas, improving cost-efficiencies in individual protected areas and building the financial management capacities of protected area staff in the NAPA.

Objectives

A reduction in the funding gap for protected areas leads to improvements in their management effectiveness, particularly in respect of reducing the threats to, and improving the conservation status of, their biodiversity values".

USD $1,450,000

Grant amount

USD $7,020,000

Leveraged amount (co-financing)

1

Source(s) of fund

Sources of fund

 

  • Global Environment Facility – Trust Fund ($1,450,000)

Implementing partner(s)

  • Government of Albania

Project metrics

Related resources

Geospatial information

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Project reports and documentation

 

FEATURED STORY

Enhancing financial sustainability of the protected area system in Albania