Second Environmental Performance Review of Albania

12 Part I: Policymaking, planning and implementationTable 1.2: Indicators in the Environmental Cross-cutting StrategyElementIndicatorEnvironmental indicators Air Compliance with air quality standardsBasic parameters: PM , ozone, SO 2 ,NO xWaterCompliance with bathing water standards at coastal resortsBasic parameters: bacteriologic contaminationCompliance with freshwater fish objectives in rivers(oxy genation, biotoxicity)BiodiversityPercentage of protected land areaPercentage of protected species which are in serious risk ofextinctionEnvironmental infrastructure Wastewater collection Population connected to central wastewater collectionperformance indicators Wastewater treatment Percentage of wastewater subject to appropriate treatmentWasteCollection and disposal of wasteRecycling of wasteFinancial indicators Wastewater Annual investment in wastewater infrastructureWaste managementAnnual investment in solid waste infrastructureContaminated landAnnual investment in restoration of contaminated landEnvironmental management Annual operational expenditure on environmental protectionAdministrative indicator Transposition of legislation Degree of concordance between national and EU legislationSource: Environmental Cross-cutting Strategy.Another important document was the 2010 Guidelineon Standards and Procedures to Endue with SimpleEnvironmental Permit to Activities that ReleaseNoises into the Environment. The Guidelinefacilitated the protection of health and theenvironment from noise, determining how to avoidand prevent noise, and to reduce and eliminate theharmful effects of exposure to noise.Implementation of programmes usually requirespreparation of progress reports with prescribedcontent. These reports are to provide important basisfor evaluation of programme implementation incomparison with targets and support decisions on thefollowing steps.Reports also have to underpin decisions onmodification of the programme, if it is necessary. Insome regards, the current reporting system as a wholehas to be improved in order to fulfil its role:• Content of progress reports of the ongoingprogrammes has to be reviewed in order toextend it beyond the simple data collection withevaluation of data and trends, and explanation ofthe results;• Preparation of progress reports has to becontrolled and enforced more seriously;• Programmes in the future should have targets infigures (targets of descriptive nature are notenough) which can be calculated from datacollected regularly and of high quality.Sectoral and cross-sectoral policy documentsThe inclusion of environmental aspects in sectoralpolicies, strategies, action plans and developmentprogrammes at the national, regional or local levels isconsidered essential for the efficient protection of theenvironment.This principle is reflected in Article 7 of the 2002Law on Environmental Protection, No. 8934: “Stateorganizations in charge of national and local policiesrelating to transport, energy, agriculture, tourism,industry, services, urban planning, and economic andsocial development ensure harmonization ofeconomic and social development withenvironmental protection and improvements in thequality of life”.The 2011 National Strategy of Water Supply andSewerage Services Sector (NSWSS) for the period2011-2017 defines the following objectives:• Expand and improve the quality of water supplyand sewerage services;• Orient the water utilities towards principles ofcost control and full cost recovery;• Improve governance and regulation in the sector• Invest in enhancing the capacities of the sectorwork force;• Move towards convergence of Albanianlegislation with EU water directives.