World Water Day - Water and Sustainable Development

Tirana, 21 March 2015

A roundtable on "Water and sustainable development" has been organized at on the occasion of World Water Day (22 March 2015), by the Institute for Nature Conservation in Albania (INCA), in collaboration with the Nature Protection Network and supported by SENiOR-A project (Support for Environmental Organizations Civil Society in Albania) and DASHI Project (Dinaric Arc’s Sustainable Hydropower Initiative). The event took place at the Tirana International Hotel aiming at increasing collaboration between the civil society organizations engaged in environmental issues and water management. It was attended by representatives from the Parliament, the Ministry of Environment, National Technical Secretariat of Water, Nature Conservation Network, civil society organizations, media etc.

Water is life, and measuring its quality is essential for the existence and the quality of life. Freshwater is a necessary input for agriculture and industry. These activities are central to livelihoods and human well-being. Without fresh water, quantitative and qualitative sustainable development would not be possible. Water is a natural asset of special importance in the spectrum of the natural resources of a country. Given the importance of this natural resource and the extended role that water plays in the development of life on earth and the economic development of a country, we would like to emphasize that water is closely associated with many physical and dynamic processes on earth. It effects the creation, destruction and modification of minerals, the earth's surface erosion, the karst formation, the transport of substances in the form of deposits at sea as well as the redistribution of salt in the soil surface.

With regard to the importance of water to life,  this roundtable discussed the impact of urban and environmental development to water. The discussion was focused mainly on the promotion of pro-active reaction of civil society in the process of sustainable water management, as well as on the active participation of our society in the public consultations for economic and the environmental policies, investments and projects.

Many projects and activities conducted by civil society organizations in field of management , legal framework, studies on effects of socio-economic development in natural water resources of the country, sustainable development, etc., were presented in the meeting.

Some of the negative effects on water resources identified in the meeting are: The hydropower construction impact on the rivers, water use in agriculture, water pollution from dumping solid and liquid waste alongside the river shores. Those issues require proper management measures, including public participation in the management of river basins, strict implementation of the legal framework for monitoring the state of the water and inspection of activities that are related to their use.

Greatest emphasis were put on the negative impact of the HPPs construction without any strategic criteria along the river streams and rivers, throwing the idea of ​​drafting a request for a moratorium on the termination of the process for granting concessions for a period of three years. This idea aimed at preventing construction of hydropower plants without any specific criteria, as well as the improvement of the legal framework on integrated water management by developing necessary bylaws and strengthening the capacities of the central and local institutions with regard to the water management and provision of licenses for the use and exploitation of water resources.