“We want to preserve the human connection with the territory, to create their economy all over the territory, to promote economic growth in the entire territory of the country. There are “Eco-Friendly” parks in all countries, i.e. environmentally friendly investments. Suffice it to look at the north of Italy and there you have all the answers,” said Kumbaro.

The Minister of Tourism and Environment emphasized that for the drafting of legal amendments, consultations were held with civil society and environmental organizations.

“Meanwhile, to keep everyone up to speed, in live broadcasts, there have been many public consultations, e-mails, letters have been sent, I have had formal and informal meetings with representatives of civil society, environmental organizations, but also with experts in the field,” she said.

She said that the socialist government, thanks to the cooperation with the civil society, declared the “Vjosa” river a National Park.

“We have given them credit for the maturity and emancipation of Albanian society in changing the mindset about nature and biodiversity. I want to recall here the most brilliant example, I would say, which is their endeavor to conserve the last wild river in Europe, which is the Vjosa river. After several years of cooperation involving the government, community, civil society and public awareness , including the political class about for the importance of protected areas, the river fed by three tributaries, Bënça, Shushica and Drino, was declared a national park, making it Europe’s first national wild river park, as the only wild river in Europe”, she said.

Minister of Tourism and Environment said that the legal amendments do not affect the red lines, which damages the protected areas.

It is not so easy for a small country like Albania to have 1/5 of the territory a protected area. This means, very strict rules in place that forbid those developments that have occurred in the territory in the past, but also in the protected areas during the transition. Such was the case in Velipoja, where a part of protected areas even before ‘90ies was urbanized. I am not mentioning here Ksamil, which used to be a protected area, today it is completely urbanized. These are, let’s say, the tribulations of a lengthy transition”, said Kumbaro.
/r.e/sm/