Second Environmental Performance Review of Albania

Chapter 8: Forestry, biodiversity and protected areas111will probably decrease in the future, due to ongoingdepopulation of rural areas and decreasing demandfor firewood. In fact, official statistics based onreports by the Forestry Police on law infringementsalready demonstrate positive tendencies over recentyears (28,373 m³ of illegally cut timber in 2002versus only 8,129 m³ in 2010). However, the lownumber of reported cases and illegally harvestedtimber volume may not only result from progress inpreventing such illegal practices, but also reflect thelimited operational capacities of the generallyunderstaffed and underequipped forestry fieldservices, which are unable to control the situation inmountain forests.Forest firesForest fires, often human induced, still pose asignificant threat to the forest ecosystems. Accordingto the database on forest and pasture fires , highnumber of fires was reported in 2007 (1,182). Asmuch as 30,827 ha were affected, 5,888.31 ha totallyburnt, including as much as 3,659.81 ha of high-stemforests.Despite the 2004 National Strategy for Fighting Firesin Forest and Pasture Areas, and the cooperation ofdifferent ministries and mobilization of differentagencies, services and forces in case of forest andpasture fires, this continuous threat cannot easily becontrolled or mitigated. This is mostly due to theinaccessibility of larger forest complexes on accountof the underdeveloped forestry road network, as wellas the general absence of modern optoelectronicequipment for early detection, reporting and warningof forest fires, and limited technical capacitiesresulting from the lack of modern fire-suppressingequipment, vehicles and special aircraft.Non-timber forest productsAlbania is also well known for the abundance andquality of its non-timber forest products (NTFPs), inparticular medicinal plants, ether oil plants, andtannin plants. Estimates from 2004 show that, onaverage, over 7,400 tons valued at US$ 10 millionare exported each year. Control over unauthorizedcollection of such plants has improved in recentyears, and the pressure has slightly decreased, whichis also due to the educational campaigns, training andtechnical assistance provided under the PrivateForestry Development Programme. The Programmesensitized entrepreneurs who understood theeconomic benefits deriving from cultivation andmarketing of such plants on a larger scale. However,detailed data on the state of populations of the aboveplants is currently not available.NTFPs also include game animals, and in 2010 thecountry had some 400 hunting grounds. The list ofgame species includes 17 species (2 mammal species– fox and hare – and 15 bird species, mostlymigratory). The number of hunters registered inhunter associations amounted to some 17,000 in2009. Furthermore, a considerable number of huntersfrom foreign countries come to Albania each year.Hunting activities are not allowed in national parksand Ramsar sites but seriously affect the wildlifepopulations outside protected areas. This is because,in general, control over illegal hunting or usingillegal hunting methods, as well as poaching, isscarcely possible, due to the low level of lawenforcement. Uncontrolled hunting still remains aserious threat to the viability of populations of largecarnivores and birds of prey, even if they are notdirectly affected by hunting and poaching, as they areconfronted with a continuous decline in food sourcesas a result of hunting and poaching targeted at theiranimal prey species. According to the MoEFWAdatabase on wildlife game species hunted, thenumbers of individual mammals hunted in 2009included 2,734 brown European hares and 1,409 redfoxes. Individual game birds hunted in 2009 included13,575 coot (Fulica atra), 2,582 rock partridges(Alectoris graeca), 7,605 turtle doves (Streptopeliaturtur) and 7 common quail (Coturnix coturnix).Legal and policy frameworkForest ownership reform, currently ongoing, is aimedat transferring the ownership of a major part ofpreviously State-owned forests to the communes. InSeptember 2007 the Government decided to speed upthe transfer process of public properties to LGUs,especially for the State-owned forests.The most recent legal bases for this process are the2006 Regulation on the Use and Transfer of Forestsfrom LGUs and the 2008 DCM on the Determinationof Procedures and Criteria of Administration ofCommunal Forests, No. 22, which has muchaccelerated forestry ownership reform in recentyears. The Regulation defines rules and proceduresfor the transfer of forest ownership from the State tocommunes, and the use of forests by the LGUs. Italso assigns to MoEFWA the supervision of theimplementation of the Regulation, and the provisionfor, extension services, which may be required by theusers of communal forests, through the regionalforestry administrations.