OSCE donates firefighting equipment for protected areas in Albania

The Acting Head of the OSCE Presence in Albania, Clarisse Pasztory, handed over forest fire equipment to the regional agencies of protected areas of Kukës and Dibra, at an event in Peshkopi, on 3 May 2024.

“The preservation of protected areas, such as Korab-Koritnik is a joint aim and commitment. We have a lot worth protecting here: the environment, the people who live here, and the people who come here to visit and recharge,” said Pasztory. Deputy Minister of Interior Besfort Lamallari, General Director of the National Agency of Protected Areas Daniel Pirushi, local authorities and officials from the Office of the Co-ordinator of OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities also participated at the event.

The equipment – purchased under the OSCE’s pilot project “Fire Resilient Protected Areas: Shar/Šara Mountains and Korab Massif Area” – consisted of a motorized firefighting system, power air blower, backpack pumps, multifunctional tools, fire brooms, drip torches, and forest fire suits for 20 firefighters.

The project aims to enhance landscape fire management and community involvement in fire prevention efforts. The project supported the development of a scoping study on addressing shared climate-related security challenges that identified fires as one of the climate-related security risks in the area. Building on the scoping study, the project also supported a joint co-operation strategy on climate change and security in the Shar/Šara Mountains and Korab Massif Area and its implementation plan.

The pilot project is implemented within the framework of the OSCE’s extra-budgetary project “Strengthening responses to security risks from climate change in South-Eastern Europe, Eastern Europe, the South Caucasus and Central Asia”.