ON-GOING PROJECTS
NATURAL RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT PROJECT Status Borrower Project Coordinator
Under implementation Albania Ministry of Environment, Forestry & Water Administration
Project Cost Credit Amount GEF amount Co-financing
US$ 19.4 million US$ 7 million US$ 5 million US$ 5.2 million Swedish Government
Signing Date Effective Closing Date
June 29, 2005 November 25, 2005 November 1, 2010
Project Objective The project development objective is to establish or maintain sustainable, community-based natural resource management in about 210 communes in upland and mountainous erosion-prone lands, leading to enhanced productivity and incomes derived from sustainable resource management, reduced soil degradation, improved water management, conservation of biodiversity, and strengthened public sector management of these resources.
Project Description Project objectives will be achieved through implementing two components:
(1) Improved Management of Forest and Pastures. This component will strengthen the communitybased approach to forest and pasture management developed for 138 communes under the closed Albania Forestry Project, as well as scale up coverage to include about 80 additional communes. This component will thereby establish resource rehabilitation and sustainable management of forests and pastures in most of communal lands of upland areas of Albania that are experiencing resource degradation and erosion. This area includes approximately 490,000 ha of forest lands, and 186,000 ha of pastures in upland areas of all 12 regions in Albania, and a will reach a rural population of more than one million people. The component will continue the preparation of management plans as a condition for the transfer of userrights to forest and pasture resources to communes, prepare the way for transfer of land ownership to communes, and implement a series of small-scale investments and capacity-building measures to improve the governance of forest and pasture resources. (2) Improved Watershed Management. Based on successful Bank experiences in other countries, the second component will pilot integrated management of natural resources in three of Albania’s seven
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