RISK OF IMPACTS ON BIODIVERSITY

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Economic development over the past 50 years was based upon agricultural, industrial and tourism development, increasing use of transportation and urbanisation, and exploitation of forest, fishing, and other natural resources. All this development has had its impacts upon biological and landscape diversity in Albania. Before political changes in 1990, internal migrations were strictly controlled by the state, maintaining an equilibrium between the cities and the countryside. After 1990, the social and economical liberalisation in Albania is causing and will continue to cause the migration of the population, free movement of population from the continental parts of the country towards the coastal regions and urban centres has increased the number of population living in these areas causing a lot of environmental implications. Some locations are severely impacted by human activities which are negatively affecting both human health and degrading the environment

A number of environmental issues and conflicts have been identified and are briefly presented below:

Although a low number of species has become extinct during this past century, the rate of loss of Albania's biodiversity before 1990 is believed to be not so high. But, during this period exist an insufficient knowledge and studies on a wide range of flora and fauna limit an accurate historical evaluation of the biodiversity status of Albania. Furthermore the data shows that two species of plants and four species of mammals have become extinct; and meanwhile 17 bird species no longer nest in the country's territory. During the last 25 years, approximately 122 species of vertebrates (27 mammals, 89 birds, and 6 fish) and four species of plants are expected to have lost more than 50% of their population. The number of rare and endangered species of plants and animals is high and expected to increase

The principal economic activities under the previous regime were mineral extraction, agriculture and basic industry. Sewage collection and treatment plants are currently being planned by the Albanian authorities but little provision currently exists for treating industrial and domestic effluent. Since the liberalisation of the economy, a range of government policies have been implemented to return collectivised land to its original owners and to promote the emergence of private initiatives. Although a large part of the industrial sector is not functioning at the moment, it is expected that this will not be the case as economic development and growth increase in the future. The effects of industrialisation will adversely impact the biodiversity of the country, particularly in the coastal areas, which will have a higher number of urban centres.

In Albania, the major types of endangered ecosystems and habitats are not only coastal (sand dunes, river deltas, alluvial forests, lagoons, and coastal lakes) and marine (medium and infralittoral level), but also inland ones, including alpine pastures and meadows, continental and glacier lakes, and broadleaf and coniferous forests.

The high rate of population growth (the population has almost tripled during the last 50 years) has been followed by the progressive increase of human impacts and disturbances on the country's nature and biodiversity. These pressures are expected to increase in the future due to the relatively free and uncontrolled movement of the population from rural to urban areas. Increasing urbanisation will most adversely affect the coastal and littoral ecosystems, which are more ecologically fragile.

The intensive agricultural practices of the past, combined with the present activities of a free market economy, have damaged and are damaging to the native species. These practices have also reduced people's interest in protecting and improving the autochthonous variety of plants and animals. It is observed that agriculture is returning back to the traditional extensive practices due to the lack of investments after the privatisation of land. This phenomenon has reduced the impact on biodiversity, but it is believed that the agriculture sector will use more intensive practices in the future, which will have increasingly adverse impacts on biodiversity, especially in the western coastal plains.

Tourism and transportation are two other factors, which will soon have an adverse impact on biodiversity, once again particularly in the coastal areas. The return of the land to its original owners and the promoting of private initiatives, included the designation of sites for tourism development along the coast.

The exploitation of forests was common in the past due to the absence of alternative fuel resources for cooking and heating. These practices have had adverse effects upon forest biodiversity, which have been further exacerbated by existing forestry practices and the lack of a clear national strategy for the protection and sustainable development of forests. The populations of large mammals have particularly suffered in the forest areas of Albania. But the last 10 years the uncontrol use of the forest lead to a critical situation which had been informed from many organisation.

STRUCTURE OF THE FOREST

There are no discernible effects on marine and wetlands biodiversity due to past fishing and aquaculture practices. However, the consequences are expected to increase in the future due to recent changes in fishing practices (e.g., increased fishing with dynamite) and the foreseen development of the fishery sector in the future.