Second Environmental Performance Review of Albania

44 Part I: Policymaking, planning and implementationfacilitating public access to environmentalinformation. An example is provided by Ecolëvizja(EcoMovement), a local network of environmentalNGOs which publishes a weekly newspaperaccessible online.The environmental media in Albania are still in theearly stages of development. There are very fewnewspapers (mainly in Tirana) which dedicatelimited editions to environmental topics. Recentexamples have related to “greening the localelections” or to environment- and health-relatedissues which have proved to be of high publicinterest. Environmental journalism is still driven bythe “hot topics of the day” rather than trying tosystematically raise awareness on variousenvironmental problems the country is facing.Capacity-building and training of journalists inenvironmental matters is an important activity to beconsidered by MoEFWA, MoH and their localbranches. This could be advanced by eventuallyorganizing monthly thematic dialogues, questionand-answersessions, press conferences and launchesof key reports.Environmental education and education forsustainable developmentThe formal education system in Albania is currentlysubject to massive reform. In this context a numberof projects were and are still being implemented toimprove the school curriculum from primary rightthrough to tertiary level. Manuals and teachingmaterials for both students and teachers have beenproduced addressing different education levels andcovering topics such as water, air, soil, etc.A Memorandum of Cooperation between UNICEF,the Netherlands, and Albania’s Ministry of Educationand Science (MoES) and MoEFWA was signed in2005, establishing the formal basis for theintroduction of environmental education in thenational curriculum. The first project within thisframework addressing the secondary school level wasfacilitated by the Netherlands and implemented withthe support of REC Albania.The project partnership with UNICEF addressed theelementary level, primarily through a number ofselected pilot schools across the country in whichtheoretical aspects of teaching were complementedby concrete practical activities. UNICEF alsolaunched small grant projects to encourage theimplementation of various environment-relatedactivities in schools (e.g. ecogardens, collection,separation and re-use of paper and glass, etc.).As part of the reform, students at various levels havebeen given the option to select topics of interest forstudy alongside the compulsory part of thecurriculum. The environment is gradually becomingone of the subjects for study and in the coming yearsit has considerable potential to grow at all levels ofeducation.Future projects envisage the certification of “greenschools”, in which local government will haveresponsibilities to support and assist the school andprovide financial support in the form of micrograntsfor the sustainability of the process.In 2005, all UNECE Member States (includingAlbania) adopted the UNECE Strategy on Educationfor Sustainable Development (ESD) in order topromote ESD in the region. The Strategy is apractical instrument to incorporate key themes ofsustainable development into the region's educationsystems. As first steps towards transposing theStrategy into the national context, Albania designateda National Focal Point for implementation of ESDand adopted the National Strategy and Action Planfor ESD. At the same time, an inter-agencycoordination mechanism for ESD was established.Steps towards the practical implementation of theESD strategy were made with the support ofinternational donors and international organizations.One example is the Green Pack initiative, building onthe experience acquired in other countries of theUNECE region. The initiative was launched inAlbania in 2003 as part of the UN Decade onEducation for Sustainable Development and wasimplemented by Regional Environmental Center forCentral and Eastern Europe (REC) with the supportof REC Albania. In 2006, REC Albania prepared ateachers’ handbook which contains lesson plans on22 environmental topics, including informationspecific to Albania, structured to provide users withinformation on each theme as well as the lesson’sobjectives and methodology.Since early 2007, the Green Pack has been used insecondary schools throughout the country. Accordingto REC monitoring, supported by REC and teachers’feedback, the Green Pack is being used by teachers ofdifferent subjects in approximately 1,500 secondaryschools throughout the country, reaching 2,000teachers and 100,000 students in each academic year.In the context of ESD Strategy implementation, aNational Conference on Sustainable Developmentfocusing on environmental education was held inNovember 2011. It was jointly organized by MoES,the National Agency for Education and Vocational