Post-Conflict Environmental Assessment: Albania

This assessment focuses on Albania’s environmental needs in these broad regional developments. Like its Balkan neighbors, Albania is home to some of Europe’s most diverse and treasured natural resources. These resources have suffered, however, from decades of unregulated industrial activity. Today, the country is transforming its democratic institutions. Environmental protection is evolving alongside economic development. There is now an opportunity for Albania to stop the destruction of its precious environment and, simultaneously, create a strong economy and prosperity for its citizens. This report is not to be a comprehensive environmental survey. Instead, it is a rapid, strategic assessment aimed at identifying the most urgent environmental needs of Albania to prioritize rehabilitation funding. Accordingly, the report focuses on the country’s severely polluted ‘hotspot’ sites requiring immediate attention, the environmental consequences of refugee influxes from the Kosovo conflict, and the actions that can strengthen Albania’s environmental institutions and policies.