Albania has at the present a critical need for coupling environmental protection and restoration with economical development so that the locals can perceive and sense these two as an undivided part of the improved quality of living. Environmental awareness has to be offered coaxed either with small infrastructure improving interventions or income generation activities so that an alliance is built on conceptual level between environmental protection and economical development.
This is the context into which GEF/SGP Albania has forged an alliance with GTZ in a common effort to enable the establishment of an environmentally friendly development in the Northern part of Albania. The GTZ is mostly going to cover the non-incremental part of the projects.
This project is a follow up of a previous SGP and GTZ project with this community. This latest SGP support is mainly an upscaling of previously experimented practices in this community and, we think, it is a good investment for securing project sustainability. The expected upscaling of the project will be reflected in an increase in the surface area of land being cultivated with the medicinal plants as well as in a greater capacity for providing high quality dry products that ultimately should identify this CBO as a reliable partner in the market of medicinal plants.
Another welcomed by product of this project is the reestablished sense of community and the capacity to work together.