CNVP Kosovo and the partner organizations from region, Protection and Preservation of Natural Environment in Albania (PPNEA) and Macedonian Ecological Society (MES) have joined EuroNatur – Stiftung Europäisches Naturerbe to implement the project “Sustainable Future for Shar/ Korab-Koritnik: Implementation of model projects to support sustainable development and nature conservation in the transboundary Shar/ Korab-Koritnik region along the Balkan Green Belt”, funded by the German Federal Environmental Foundation (Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt DBU)

The project started in April 2021 and will run for 30 months, with the goal to contribute to a sustainable regional development, combined with the reduction of threats to biodiversity in the Shar/ Korab-Koritnik region with the local population as main driver.

• The project has the following objectives:
• Support of sustainable regional development
• Increasing engagement of local people
• Reduction of threats to biodiversity
• Improvement of habitats
• Strengthening of transboundary cooperation, learning and exchange
• Increasing visibility of the transboundary area

Main project component is the implementation of 13 model projects by local actors in the topics livestock & bee keeping, forest as well as tourism. Different supporting cross-border activities will further improve the implementation as well as the transboundary cooperation, learning and exchange between the model projects. This will connect the regional level of the respective topic with the local model projects and enhance their positive effect. Additionally, the visibility and development of the region will be supported also on an overarching level to further enhance the transboundary dimension.

With the project, local people will help themselves to build a sustainable future for Shar/ Korab-Koritnik. They will act also as multiplier to a wider range of locals and - in cooperation with the Local Actions Groups - foster a nature-friendly bottom-up development in the transboundary region. In addition, the project team will gain knowledge and experiences regarding the effectiveness of different measures to increase rural livelihood and reduce threats to biodiversity at the same time, in order to be able to transfer it also to other regions in an adapted way.

EuroNatur, MES (North Macedonia), PPNEA (Albania) and CNVP (Kosovo) have been active in the Shar/ Korab-Koritnik region for over 10 years and thus have good knowledge about the conditions and developments in the area.