Conservation of the Environment in Albania
Despite its small area (28 750 square kilometres), Albania is outstanding for the beauty and variety of its natural landscape. The varied climatic conditions and forms of relief, the abundance of natural assets, the rich flora and fauna, the Albanian Alps with their mountain pastures and forests, the Adriatic and Ionian coasts — we mention only some of the factors which characterize the beautiful natural environment and the various ecological systems of our country.
Nevertheless, because of the foreign invaders and the anti-popular regimes, until the mid-forties poverty and backwardness prevailed, coupled with recurrent floods and droughts which made the life of the people ever harder and brought about the degration of the environment.
With the triumph of the people’s revolution in November 1944, the epoch of the construction of socialism, the epoch of the planned, steady and all-round socio-economic development of the country set in. The socialist industrialization of the country, the intensive development of socialist agriculture and the all-round advance of the country had a direct influence on major positive changes in the natural environment, as well. With the building of big hydro-power complexes and large irrigation and drainage projects, the extension of the arable land, the construction of new cities, the draining of marshes, etc., the natural equilibrium was restored in degraded ecological systems, the geographical landscape enriched, and the well-being and prosperity of the people increased.
Among the big transformations of the geographical environment in Albania are the extension of the arable area to about 750 000 ha, of which one third has been gained through land improvement schemes in the lowland area of the coast and, one sixth through the draining of marshes and moors such as those of Tërbuf, Maliq, etc. On the Mat, Drin and Bistrica Rivers huge hydro-power systems (with an installed power of over 1,5 million kW and an average annual production of over 5,8 billion kW/h) have been set up; the land on the coastal plains is protected through a system of dams against river floods and through the construction of pumping stations which discharge over 250 cubic metres of water per second in the rain period. At present over 57 per cent of the arable land is irrigated and over 95 per cent of the electric power is produced by hydro-power stations. Qualitative improvements have been made in the protection of forests and pastures from degradation and the land from erosion, the winning of new land from river-beds and deltas, etc.
On the Measures for the Protection of the Environment
The environment has an influence not only on the life and health of people, but also on the harmonious socio-economic and cultural development of the country, so protection of the environment, the traditional ecological systems, or establishment of new systems is absolutely necessary for a steady present and future development of the country. This is why the problem of the protection of the environment in Albania has long since become a question for the activity of the whole society, state organs and scientific institutions and organisms, a subject of legislative measures and special decisions of the higher state organs like the People’s Assembly and the Government of the PSR of Albania. Thus, Article 20 of the Constitution of the PSR of Albania says that «protection of land, natural resources, waters and air against degradation and pollution is the duty of the state, the economic and social organizations and all citizens.»
In the context of these decrees and decisions issued by the higher state organs, the Commission for the Protection of the Environment has been set up at the Council of Ministers, and institutions, scientific sectors, chairs and groups of study cooperate with the Academy of Sciences, the «Enver Hoxha» University of Tirana and the main ministries, carrying out scientific studies and other activities in planned directions on a regional and national scale. They make regular control of the situation in the atmosphere, water and land, as well as the condition of the flora and fauna and take the relative measures.
The fundamental aim of all these activities is the protection of the existing ecological system, the taking of measures for the prevention and elimination of the pollution of the environment, the rational and planned exploitation of natural assets, the protection of the environment from degradation and its further improvement.
Despite the priority development of the chemical industry and metallurgy, the intensive exploitation of the natural resources, and the intensification of agriculture, the natural environment in Albania is on a whole clean and does not give rise to serious concern.
As a result of planned measures of an organizational, technical, scientific and financial character, the protection of the environment in Albania is done in complete unity, extension and integration of all the branches of the economy, taking into consideration and following up the main problems of protection of the environment and the complex ecological systems of the country, with the main attention being devoted to the activities in air, water, and land, and those affecting the flora and fauna of the country.
In regard to the protection of the air, controls, scientific studies and measurements are carried out in the atmosphere of cities and industrial centres for the detection of pollutants, their quantitative and qualitative content, especially soot, dust, gases, their shifts, etc., constantly following up and controlling the levels of these pollutants in the air, as well as observing and studying meteorological and climatic factors and their influence on the pollutants in the atmosphere. At present the relative institutions of the country are expanding and consolidating their network for the observation of the quality of the air, which covers regions, towns and industrial zones, in which air pollution from industrial plants is more probable like the city of Elbasan — from the Metallurgical Combine, the city of Fier — from the Ammonium Nitrate and Urea Plant, etc. For the protection of the air from pollution more studies have been carried out about the polluting potential of industrial and power plants in the vicinity of towns, as well as on the sanitation belt around power plants, etc.
In regard to the protection of waters, a broad range of activities are permanently carried out for the observation of the physical-chemical indices of water in rivers, lakes, seas, artificial reservoirs, as well as underground waters. Along with surface waters, the same is done with industrial and communal sewage, including the qualitative assessment of water and the degree of its pollution according to the norms allowed. On a national scale, a broad range of observations and studies for the protection of water from pollution is carried out by the Hydrometeorological Institute of the Academy of Sciences in some rivers and sections of rivers of our country such as Gjanica, Kir, and Shkumbin, in which discharge of waste from the metallurgical, chemical and paper industries have created problems and which, for this reason, remain under constant control as to the physical-chemical qualities and quantities of their waters. In this context measures have been and are being taken for technological improvements in these branches of industry, especially for controlling the concentration of the sewage waters of cities so as to prevent the pollution of river waters. For this purpose coal and mineral processing plants, paper mills, etc., have built dams to reduce the pollution of river waters from industrial waste, which is done also for communal sewage. Studies about the protection of waters from pollution include assessment and management of the water reserves of the country, technologies for purifying industrial waste, extension and consolidation of the network controlling the quality of waters on a national scale, etc., permanent observation of waters: their flow, suspensive substance, metals and other noxious elements in them, physical and chemical indices, etc.
Albania is rich in water reserves. They are evaluated at an annual average of 42 billion cubic metres. As an invaluable asset, waters are administered by the state and utilized in a complex and planned manner for the socio-economic development of the country. Over 100 artificial reservoirs with big dams have been built on the main rivers and their affluents for production of electric power and irrigation, with a total volume of about 5,1 billion cubic metres and a water area of 186 square kilometres.
The Hydrometeorological Institute of the Academy of Sciences, the Hydrogeological Enterprise at the Ministry of Industry, Mining and Energy, the Department of Water Conservancy at the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of the Communal Economy are the scientific and administrative organs which are permanently engaged with the assessment and utilization of water resources to the benefit of the development of the country.
In regard to the protection of the land large-scale activities are carried out for the conservation and extension of its area and fertility. For this purpose, irrigation of the cultivated land is constantly being extended, more measures are being taken for the protection of the land from erosion through hydro-technical, agro-technical and silvi-cultural measures, afforestation, regeneration of pastures, as well as for the protection of the land from chemical and industrial pollution. Many study and scientific research institutes of the Ministry of Agriculture such as the Institute of Pedology, agricultural stations in various districts of the country, the Institute of Fruticultural and Viticultural Research, the Higher Agricultural Institute, forest stations; etc.; carry out a broad range of activities in study and research, as well as concrete operational measures. The scientific and experimental activities of these institutions are in constant expansion. They are doing very valuable work for the improvement of the fertility of the coastal lowlands which is the zone of priority intensification in our country, for the desalinization of saline land and its agricultural utilization, along with the land of river-beds, etc.; as well as for the systematization of land in the hilly — mountainous zones; the combined use of organic and chemical fertilizers, etc.
For purposes of land conservation the pedological map of the country to a scale of 1:200,000 and 1:500,000 for the whole agricultural land has been compiled, and new techniques are in use for the assessment and increase of the fertility of the land, the preservation of its green cover and its systematization. An important direction in the work for the conservation of the land is conservation and extension of the wooded area and the afforestation of erosion herds.
For the conservation of the flora and fauna, which have peculiar characteristics in Albania, scientific and operational activities include the work for the conservation of the genetic fund of the spontaneous flora and fauna through the creation of national parks, preserves for the reproduction of seeds of spontaneous cultures, the conservation of endangered species, as well as the creation of the genetic fund of the local flora and fauna. At present we have about 8.400 ha of national parks, over 12 200 of game preserves and over 600 ha of reservations for monuments of nature. By special laws characteristic specimens of the local fauna are considered endangered species: the wild cock, the wood hen, the eagle, the wild goat, etc., as well as the local flora, with its endemic species, the spontaneous flora, etc.
Albania has inherited a rich genetic fund and this is being protected by laws and the organization of all-round scientific activities on a national scale by the Centre of Biological Research at the Academy of Sciences, the Botanical Garden and the Chair of Natural Sciences of the «Enver Hoxha» University of Tirana.
In the social and legal aspect all — round activities, most of them of a prophylactic character, are carried out and legislative acts endorsed for the protection of the health of the people and the improvement of their hygienic and cultural level; the Health Inspectoriate controls the purity of the air, water, land, etc., and takes measures for the mobilization of public opinion and scientific research organism for the protection of the environment against pollution.
The ever-expending activities carried out in our country for the protection of the environment are accompanied with important measures on the part of the socialist state for the protection of the health of the people, the improvement of the environment and its protection against pollution.
This year, too, the People’s Assembly of the PSR of Albania took up for examination a report on «the results achieved in the protection of the health of the people and further measures for raising prophylaxy and medical service to a higher level,» in which an important place was devoted to the problems of the protection of the environment as an important question which has to do with the health of the people.
In the course of this examination, it was called for a broader conception and evaluation of the problems of environment protection, the implementation of new technologies for the elimination of environment pollution, as well as the application of better measures for environment control in the air, water and land, the protection of the flora and fauna, etc. In the context of these tasks, in the recent years special measures have been taken and activities carried out, as well as studies and investments have been made for .the prevention and elimination of pollution by industrial plants and communal discharges, as well as complex studies with a broad range of problems having to do with the present and future protection of the environment in Albania.
The Government of the PSR of Albania attaches particular importance to the protection of the environment both within the country and outside, cooperating with the neighbouring countries and the international organizations of the United Nations to protect the environment in the Balkans and Europe against pollution.
In the Balkan context, the problems of environment protection make up an important field of the cooperation between Balkan states both in carrying out measures on a Balkan level for the solution of the present problems of environment protection and in developing cooperation in fields related to the Balkan and international ecology. In this context, the Government of the PSR of Albania has made its contribution to the protection on a Balkan scale of the air and water from pollution, taking measures for land conservation, against flooding and desertification, and exchanging information and data about emergencies, such as earthquakes, fires, accidents in industrial plants, etc. Our country has taken part in the Conference on the Protection of the Environment in the Balkan Peninsula which took place in Bulgaria (Varna 1988), at which it was represented by scientific studies on the situation and measures for the protection of the environment in the PSR of Albania, as well as on the problems that emerge in this field in a Balkan context. Also it has taken part in and contributed to the successive meetings of experts of the Balkan Governments on the protection of the environment.
With the persistent activities of each Balkan country, as well as the joint efforts of all of them in the struggle against air, water and land pollution, in exercising control and carrying out complex studies on a Balkan scale for the protection of the territorial environment of the Balkan Peninsula which is characterized by a great variety of ecological systems, beautiful environments and a great wealth of natural resources, characteristic climatic conditions and other peculiarities, the many and rare natural beauties of the Balkans will be conserved and developed further.
Albania Today: 6(109), 1989, pp. 47–49
Shoku Enver Translations
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