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8 May 2023, 09:18
IUCN is helping Western Balkan countries with education in Nature-based Solutions
Afforestation, sustainable agriculture and making new room for green spaces in cities form part of that effort
Two pilot projects have been launched: one in Serbia, the other in Albania
Regional cooperation is key for the development of Nature-based Solutions (NbS) that could help the Western Balkan region combat climate change, particularly frequent floods, droughts and other natural disasters, according to ADAPT experts of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
„Nature knows no borders. Regional cooperation is very important, especially for the Western Balkan, due to the region’s high biodiversity“, says Vlatko Trpeski, Head of the Department of Nature of the North Macedionian Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning.
Nature-based Solutions entail all actions aimed at protection, preservation, restoration and sustainable use of natural or modified ecosystems in order to respond to socio-economic problems, such as food and water availability or scarcity, human health, biodiversity losses, economic recovery and environmental problems, while simultaneously ensuring benefits for people, ecosystems and biodiversity.
Nature-based Solutions include afforestation, sustainable agriculture, making new room for green spaces in cities and developing early warning mechanisms for natural disasters.
For instance, the ADAPT initiative, funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) has launched two pilot projects: at Mt. Gledić near Kraljevo, Serbia, dealing with degraded forest landscape restoration; and in Albania, dealing with erosion control and flood prevention.
According to United Nations (UN) data, land is greatly affected not only in this region, but around the globe, as well. As many as up to 40 percent of land on the planet is degraded, affecting one half of the global population and jeopardizing one half of the global GDP. Moreover, the UN warns that if land degradation continues at the same pace, land the size of South America will be degraded by 2050.
„The pilot project can be a good example of the use of Nature-based Solutions“, says Arduen Karagjozi, Strategic Management Director at the Albanian Water Resources Management Agency. „Through this project, we are working towards creating more stability for the environment which is less resilient to climate change“, he noted. Karagjozi added that the project had also been working on involving the local community, particularly the municipalities, in order to provide them with detailed advice on how to continue implementing similar solutions and maintaining the existing ones.
At the same time, the pilot project in Serbia is working on prevention of future natural disasters, according to Mihaela Dragan Lebovics of IUCN. She noted that the pilot region had been heavily affected by floods in 2014, while Zdravko Maksimović, Head of the Civil Protection Department of the Kraljevo City Administration, added that his city was plagued by many problems of erosion, floods and landslides and that the local authorities in Kraljevo were working on the implementation of a ten-year strategy that included Nature-based Solutions, which were included in urban planning, as well.
„Nature-based Solutions are among the main activities that can help in disaster risk reduction and in strengthening local community resilience to disasters“, Maksimović said. He pointed out that all municipalities in Serbia could use Kraljevo as a good practice example.
Dragan Lebovics highlighted the importance of regional cooperation and coordination for disaster risk reduction. „Every country must work on its respective early warning system and include adequate measures, such as NbS, in its national plans and strategies and then further coordinate its moves with the rest of the region“, she said. „Under the Paris agreement, more than 130 countries have already integrated Nature-based Solutions, such as afforestation, building of green infrastructure in cities, sustainable agriculture or protection of riparian areas, into their respective national plans dealing with climate change. It is important for Western Balkan countries to include these solutions in their respective plans“, Dragan Lebovics added.
Droughts as a major problem
„What we need to be concerned about in the Western Balkans is an increasing occurrence of droughts“, warns Louise Baker, Managing Director of the Global Mechanism of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). „We do not know how climate situation is going to look like in the future, but it will impact the percentage of forest area and soil productivity alike. I believe that it is possible to pre-empt the effects of climate change in the region if we manage the land properly“, she added.
Baker believes that conservation is especially important and so are modern management models. „What I mean by that is that agroforestry, terracing and other drought prevention activities, along with degraded land restoration, have the potential to stop the losses.“
According to Baker, this problem concerns everybody, from government to local authorities, farmers, forest rangers and owners of any type of land.
„Local authorities should work on integrated development plans for urban and rural areas, rather than making separate plans. At the executive power level, political will is needed in order for these problems to be taken seriously. It is important to understand that investment in NbS is not only an insurance against future disasters, but also an investment for better agricultural production“, she says.
Furthermore, Baker believes that additional positive incentives for sustainable agriculture should be introduced. „It might sound controversial, but we could take into consideration the already existing taxes and subsidies. We could reward behaviour that is good for sustainable land management. Unfortunately, the current policies are not necessarily going in that direction, but rather stimulate intensive land use, and thus we need to slowly move away from such a practice“, she says.
Of course there are risks for NbS, warns Andrea Goertler, Environmental Policy Advisor at the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH. „The biggest risk for these solutions is that they are not sufficiently planned or sufficiently funded. Maintenance is essential and this is why we need budgets, including public budgets“, Goertler stresses, adding that Nature-based Solutions are often more cost-effective than the grey infrastructure, but maintenace is very important, as well.
In order to prevent abuse of the Nature-based Solutions concept and ensure adequate implementation of these measures on the ground, in June 2021 the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) presented the IUCN Global Standard for Nature-based Solutions, which is the very first and unique set of measures for these solutions in response to numerous global challenges. The Global Standard for NbS helps representatives of the governmental, business and non-governmental sectors to implement Nature-based Solutions more efficiently and fully tap into their potential.
„In addition to this, non-involvement of all stakeholders in this process is another risk – we have examples in the EU of what can become a problem when everyone who is supposed to be involved is not involved. For example, if we do not pay attention and just make wonderful green spaces, this can lead to gentrification, which, in turn, can lead to a situation where people can no longer live in places where they used to live due to rising costs of living“, Goertler warns.
On the other hand, she also believes that through regional exchange of experiences, particularly in regard to legislation, major benefits can be achieved, with a view to integrating Nature-based Solutions in the legislations of individual countries.