South Eastern Europe

The History

In South Eastern Europe the Iron Curtain separated several countries – not only those of two political blocks. While Greece was part of the European Union already, Yugoslavia was block-free and Albania had closed its borders to stay isolated from the rest of Europe. But also between Yugoslavia and Greece the border was heavily controlled. For example at Lake Prespa, all border crossings between the three states Albania, Greece and Yugoslavia were closed, and only fishermen used the lake with their boats. Thus, on the Balkan Peninsula, the Iron Curtain followed not only the border of the states of the Eastern Bloc but also those of Albania and Yugoslavia, forming a „Y“ from the Danube to the Mediterranean and the Black Sea.

Due to the political development on the Balkan in the past decade, new borders were formed and old borders got new significance and meaning. In the aftermath of the former Yugoslavian countries' struggles for independancy, the Balkan Green Belt was one of the few concepts for networking, when t ransboundary cooperation activities on the governmental level were rare, and in some cases cooperation is happening without official commitments.

The border between southern Hungary and Serbia and Romania is also the current border of the European Union. These borders call for a strong cooperation in nature conservation and regional development in order to tackle land abandonment and loss of cultural landscapes.

The Heritage

The Balkan Green Belt is an extremely heterogeneous, but mostly natural corridor. The lowest altitudes of the Pannonian Plain are at the Danube with only 68 to 88m above sea level, while the mountain peaks reach 2753m in the Korab Mountain between Albania and FYR Macedonia. From the Adriatic Sea at the mouth of the Bojana River, the landscape rises in a distance of only 80km up to 2693m in the Prokletije massive between Albania, Montenegro and in the province of Kosovo in Serbia. The Green Belt links important wetlands such as coastal areas, rivers and lakes with the mountains in the very centre of the Balkan.

Especially the rivers, lifelines in nature, form large stretches of the Green Belt. The Danube, being of course the dominant river of the region, flows along the borders and through several countries. Just as important for nature conservation are the smaller rivers, such as the Bojana, a frontier river between Albania and Montenegro, that is only 30km long, but in many portions it is still a naturally flowing river.

Lake Prespa is an important resting spot for migratory birds and, just as Lake Ohrid, it is the breeding area for many threatened species. Lake Skutari, host of the Dalmatian Pelikan, is one of the most fascinating landscapes in the border region of Albania and Montenegro.

The Challenge

Areas in South Eastern Europe face threats that are mainly caused by structural and management deficits, such as an unsustainable use of natural resources, an ineffective protected area management and lack of awareness as well as financial resources. While management plans mainly focus on the economic benefits, plans are usually not made in cooperation with local communities and NGOs. Most of the global guidelines for resource management planning are not integrated yet into the planning process.

Regulations on nature conservation are often insufficiently positioned within the legal framework, and although most of the sectorial laws do exist, capacities of the authorities are often insufficient for the development of strategies and the implementation of sustainable Management Plans. Until now the coverage of protected areas is low in South Eastern Europe and ecological corridors are just about non-existant.

The urge for economic development confronts us with infrastructure and development projects that would lead to a degadation of those landscapes that are the basis for tourism. A transboundary approach to marketing the region for sustainable tourism will probably address a wider range of target groups.

The Effort

Even before the political change in Europe , Euronatur recognised the ecological value of the border zone between East and West. In 1990 , the NGO started to initiate and implement conservation activities alson the southern section of the Green Belt. The first concrete initiative was started off in the transboundary zone of the Duna-Drava-Mura river corridor.

In 2004 the IUCN opened its Programme Office for South Eastern Europe in Belgrade . In close cooperation with the Nature Conservation Institute the First Regional Meeting for the South Eastern European Green Belt took place in Novi Sad in November 2005. 44 participants from the South European Green Belt countries came together to exchange information and experience in their work in nature conservation and regional development. This gave the opportunity to discuss the initiatives goals and targets for the region and to articulate expectations for further cooperation.

The IUCN Strategy for South Eastern Europe identifies a preliminary list of 38 important transboundary sites, where protected areas should be developed. 20 of these are in the line of the Green Belt. Thus the Green Belt initiative offers an ideal opportunity to promote protected areas as a tool for regional development in the southeast of Europe , and to form an outstanding chain of protected areas.