Second Environmental Performance Review of Albania

38 Part I: Policymaking, planning and implementationparameters checked. The laboratory is well equippedbut suffers from a lack of sufficient human resourcesto perform all the tasks required for a referencelaboratory (two staff are currently working on alltasks).No reference laboratory is yet established for airquality. Despite the air database being alreadyinstalled in EFA, it is not used and no qualityassurance or quality control (QA/QC) is performed.There is insufficient staff in the Agency to performall air monitoring, data processing and reporting tasksto the Ministry and other organizations such as EEA(only two staff are currently available).Well-equipped laboratories exist in other institutionsworking under contract to MoEFWA. The IPH airlaboratory, for example, is a potential candidate tobecome an NRL for air, with responsibility for thecalibration and maintenance of air data. Oneobjective of the EU/CEMSA project is to support theaccreditation process.GSA is also in the process of accreditation. It iscontracted to perform monitoring tasks forgroundwater 3 and has a well-equipped laboratory forundertaking analysis. GSA has good representationthroughout the country, working through its localoffices to take measurements in six river basins. It isexpected that the CEMSA project will assist GSA inthe accreditation process and in becoming an NRLfor groundwater.Under its Climate Change Programme, UNDP hasdesigned an integrated monitoring system andimplementation programme for the Drini–Mati riverdeltas in which several institutions are identified askey players and propose to work together incollecting and sharing relevant data on theecosystems assessed. An important objective of theproject is the consequent establishment of anintegrated environmental network for this protectedarea, including NRLs for major environmentalsectors and an associated body responsible forinformation, coordination and general management.Accelerating the accreditation process; ensuringadequate budgets for calibration, spare parts andregular servicing of monitoring and analysisequipment; and ensuring sustainable humanresources, are priorities to be considered. Most of themodern equipment and related services available formonitoring and analysis purposes was acquiredthrough projects administered by donors. The long­3 Surface water is monitored on an ad hoc basis in thecontext of specific projects.term functioning and maintenance of such equipmentneed to be secured by national authorities (ministries,institutes and EFA).Data validityData quality remains a key challenge for Albaniaacross all thematic areas. As both human andfinancial resources available for sampling are limited,measurements are irregular, non-systematic and havehigh margins of error. In some cases, someparameters cannot be monitored at all due to the oldequipment available; in other cases the norms andstandards used are still not yet compatible withinternational standards. Where automatic stationshave been installed and are functioning properly, thequality of data collected, frequency of measurementand number of parameters measured havesubstantially improved.No databases except for air currently exist for theenvironmental topics monitored, and neither does aQA/QC system to certify the data collected inaccordance with international standards. It is one ofthe objectives of the CEMSA project to establish anintegrated database for air, water, soil andbiodiversity. At present QA/QC of water data (for theparameters accredited) is undertaken by the newlyestablished NRL for water within EFA. This isexpected to be complemented by groundwater datafrom GSA once the accreditation of its laboratory isachieved.Under the StEMA project a suite of StandardOperational Procedures (SOPs) was implementedthrough a series of workshops on QA/QC, field workand work in laboratories. This dedicated capacitybuildingof the Albanian institutions involved inmonitoring aimed at improving data quality as along-term foundation for a sustainable IEMS.Over the past 15 years, Albania has been cooperatingwith EEA and EIONET 4 in various thematic areassuch as air and climate change, water, biodiversity,land cover, etc. Hence, several Albanian institutionssuch as MoEFWA and, recently, EFA have benefitedfrom technical assistance and the exchange ofexperience in the context of gradual compliance withEU requirements and other international obligations.The data delivered by Albania under the priority dataflows were checked by dedicated European TopicCentres (ETCs) and included in European databasessuch as AirBase and WaterBase.4 EIONET Albania consists of all national institutionsnominated to work with EEA, with EFA as the NationalFocal Point.