In Thursday's interpellation in the Parliament, the Minister of Tourism and Environment, Mirela Kumbaro, listed all the work done for the protected areas and the increase of their surface.
"For anyone who can get the idea that the opposite party is interested in protected areas, while until 2014 no one had heard in public talk about either the environment or natural protected areas despite the fact that there was a Minister of Environment, I I will mention only a few facts. The National Agency of Protected Areas, with its 12 regional agencies, an institution that today makes us proud because it takes care of every national and natural park, every natural monument and landscape, thanks to an army of passionate people who are on the ground every day, environmental engineers , forest engineers or veterinarians who work passionately for our natural jewels, well this agency - was created only in 2015! Until 2015, Albania did not have an agency dedicated to protected areas, while today this agency honors us as a country and turns Albania into a good example in the region, since many countries in the Western Balkans still do not have one. agency dedicated to protected areas. For the first time, we drafted and approved a law on protected natural areas in 2017! If we had had such priorities earlier, surely many sins committed during the transition would have been avoided. For the first time, Albania expanded the areas of protected areas in 2022, bringing the area of protection to 21.5% of the territory! Yes, today 21.5% of the territory in Albania is a protected area with the will of this majority, with the work and dedication of this majority! And it was not an easy decision at all, many other larger countries have it much lower and none of the countries in the region has taken such a protective decision. It is an important decision because Albania has a limited area, where the needs of communities and people must be harmonized for development and well-being with the vision and intention to protect nature as the most precious asset we leave to generations! It is this majority that follows the developments in the territory every day, in order to maintain that realistic balance, between sustainable development and the protection of biodiversity, as it has updated the study of protected areas, updated the law of 2017 at the beginning of this year, because it must respond to the reality, the demographic needs, so that parts of the territory do not continue to be emptied! Exactly to this Albania that moves much faster than this opposition of yours without a head and with scattered limbs!", said Kumbaro.
The Minister of Tourism and Environment also accused the government before 2013, saying that it has caused damage to protected areas and biodiversity, writes A2.
"The wealth and natural resources have been there for decades, but for all those decades no one wanted to take them, nor did anyone pay attention to them as a priority! To abuse, destroy, build at random without a head, without a plan and with greed as our eyes have seen not far but until 10 years ago during the previous government until 2013 when thousands and thousands of terrible boils were planted in territory, in natural and cultural areas, in riverbeds and sandy beaches.... Yes, you bequeathed this to us! This has been the story in 25 years! And I won't mention Bathora, nor Tirana in 2000, but Ksamil, since it was a hill in the protected area, you degraded it to Bathora on the coast, removing every reason and argument for biodiversity that we, with the urban retraining programs, are bringing to the table , balancing the social problems of the population with roads, lighting, sewers, with restorations and requalifications of public spaces, increasing the value of objects that are already only part of History, but also by synchronizing the interventions of private investors in synergy with the territory, but with strict criteria and only with the decision of KKT", said Kumbaro.
Regarding the new law on protected areas, Kumbaro clarified that despite claims, the law does not violate any European Directive and respects the principles of the International Union for the Protection of Nature.
"As I told you, the new law focuses on the control and administration of these areas in the Protected Areas Agency! The law does not violate any European Directives, and respects the principles of the IUCN - the supreme body when it comes to expertise in the management of protected areas, which in the guide to the management of protected areas says very clearly: "It is the states that have the right to the final decision and the responsibility for the administration and use of natural resources of land and water, therefore it is these states themselves that decide on the category of administration of a protected area. But you neither read nor want to know, because you are looking for misinformation!"
Kumbaro also mentioned the work for Vjosa, that after it was declared a National Park, work is now progressing for its inclusion in UNESCO.
"Vjosa has been there for centuries and decades, no previous government had the slightest idea to protect it! And the Vjosa was not the last wild river in Europe to be protected, but on the contrary, because it saw no vision for the whole area that makes up 1/3 of Albania, empty making people leave because they saw no opportunity to create economy and to live where their grandparents' parents were born. Where they are returning today, from Memaliaj to Tepelën, from Përmeti to Libohovë, from Bënça to Këlcyre, from Darëzeza to Vlorë. We declared 480 kilometers of Vjosa, together with Drino, Bënca and Shushica, a National Park, not just out of emotion, but through rational decision-making and an excellent cooperation with the civil society in Albania, with foreign partners such as Patagonia, with the International Union for the Protection of Nature IUCN, creating a dignified model that quickly turned into Albania's presentation cartivisions. With Vjosa, with which we have given Europe the only National Park of a wild river, we go to another stage: the inclusion of Vjosa in UNESCO, in the category "Man and the Biosphere", one of the most interesting categories that UNESCO has when words about protected natural areas, where man coexists with nature."
The Minister of Tourism and Environment also mentioned the numbers of visitors to the protected areas. "We had 5.3 million visitors to our national and natural parks during the period January - November 2024, or 1 million more than the whole of last year. And it's not just about the numbers, but about the economy that develops for the residents of these areas, who are not building hydropower plants, - in fact, quite the opposite, we are also canceling those hec contracts that you signed - but guesthouses, agrotourism, restaurants small ones that then occupy the front pages of the media which echo Albanian hospitality and the sweet smile of our housewives!" (A2 Televizion)
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