A group of volunteers from the Forestry Federation, SNVP Organization, the Austrian Development Agency, and the Forest School are involved in reforesting degraded hillsides in the Ana Malit area, near the border line between Albania and Montenegro.

The administrative unit Ana Malit administers 770 hectares of forests, but most of them were damaged by illegal logging and fires after 1990. Sokol Guri, the director of the Forestry Federation for Shkodra, says that efforts are being made to improve the condition of this forest area.

“The area of ​​forests facing problems is considerable. We are implementing a model that involves planting various types of trees, starting with the forest, which is a factor in fighting fires, with wild pine, bay laurel, olive, to see their progress for continuity,” he says.

Albania has declared 2024 as the “Year of Forests”, aiming to increase the awareness of municipalities and local communities for the sustainable management and protection of this national asset, as well as the environment.

According to official data from the Institute of Statistics (INSTAT), Albania’s forest and pasture fund covers a total area of ​​about 1,732 thousand hectares, representing 60.2% of the country’s total area.

Mark Vata, who heads the association of forest-pastures in the Ana Malit area, says that over the past five years, the awareness level of residents for forest protection has increased, but he adds that emigration is also affecting this sector.

The overall volume of forests in Albania is estimated at around 54,063,000 cubic meters, of which 94% consists of public forests and only 6% of private forests.

However, the management of public forests by municipalities, in most cases, is almost impossible due to the lack of funds and limited material and human resources they have. According to the Ministry of Tourism and Environment, the majority of municipalities in the country (33 out of 61), still have no reforestation and investment plans for the forests they manage.

“The transfer of ownership to administrative units of municipalities was perhaps the right moment because the forest needs to be closer to the people, but the structures in the municipalities have not been adequate. Recently, some municipalities have started to build structures, have started to hire staff, but their staff is not fully complete. There is a need for technical staff. The Forest School needs to have more students to produce enough forestry technicians to be employed in municipalities. Municipalities do not meet the number of experts needed for the forests”.

In 2016, Albania declared a 10-year forest moratorium, aiming to reduce interventions on the forest fund, degraded as a result of overexploitation and other damages.

After eight years, the moratorium has managed to halt the reduction of the forest fund; however, capacities for extinguishing almost annual fires, complete cessation of illegal logging, and funds for necessary investments in areas degraded by erosion, logging, and fires have not improved.