Albanian National Action Plan on Environment 2001.

The National Action Plan on Environment 2001 is a five-year action plan that represents the main sectoral document on the state policies of environmental protection. It acknowledges the citizens’ constitutional right to a healthy environment and its main objective is the establishment of an integrated environmental administration system that will generate sustainable development through the sustainable use of natural resources. The plan is not a restatement of the Environment Action Plan of 1994.
In order to generate sustainable development by making agriculture, forestry, and fisheries more productive and sustainable efforts will focus on: 1-Development of an updated legal framework including the development of policies and programs for agriculture, environmental monitoring, sustainable transport, tourism, public information and participation, land protection from erosion, building cooperation with business associations, sewage treatment in urban areas, urban waste administration, water strategy, administration of hazardous industrial and hospital waste, prohibition of substances that dilute the ozone layer, sustainable administration of legatines, strategy of protection from natural disasters, territory planning, environmental local action plans, control of gases that contribute to climate change. 2-Strengthening and expanding the institutional framework and capacity building activities including the establishment of environmental protection departments in line ministries and local government units that will be responsible for environmental monitoring, and the establishment of the National Council of Sustainable Development. 3-Priority investing focused on biodiversity protection; sustainable management of natural resources including programs on forestry and biological diversity to establish state and private forestry nurses, reforest degraded forestry areas, keep inventory of biological diversity, introduction of integrated practices to fight pollution, strengthening of inspection and control for illegal logging, improvement of the urban and rural infrastructure, improvement of environmental quality, and public awareness and participation; 4- Improved administration of solid waste and treatment of sewage system through the construction of new collectors and treatment plants in the districts of Durres-Golem, Vlore, Pogradec, Sarande, Shkoder, Lezhe, Kavaje, Kruje, Korce, etc; and 5 - Update of territory administration plans for urban areas.
Reduction of poverty is another objective of this action plan. To this end, the plan promotes the equitable use and sustainable management of natural resources by promoting the establishment of private forests and pastures, as well as communal forests to be administered by the users’ groups. The increase of rural income is one of the program indicators. To increase the resilience of livelihoods to natural disasters the action plan includes the preparation of an improvement plan and its technical-economical ramifications to mitigate flooding damage in several areas.
Regarding governance, the Ministry the Environment is the main institution responsible for the implementation and coordination of the action plan. A detailed list of impact and progress indicators is also attached to the action plan. The indicators include the average population longevity, birth weight, mortality rate, income increase, disease occurrences due to environment pollution, increase in protected areas and agricultural land, renewal rate of natural resources, use of renewable resources vs. non renewable ones, etc.