Mountain ranges in South Eastern Europe (SEE) may soon receive new protections under a proposed multilateral environmental agreement based on the existing models of the Alpine and Carpathian conventions. The first draft text of the proposal was discussed in Bolzano, Italy from November 3-4, 2006 by government representatives, NGOs and international organisations. The meeting produced a new draft, which is to be submitted for consultation with various sectoral ministries in the participating countries. Further negotiations are planned for early this spring, with the aim of having text agreed upon so that it can be signed during the Environment for Europe Conference in Belgrade in the fall.

WIDE RANGE: The peaks of Albania’s Kelmend region are part of the mountainous area under proposed protection.

“The core function of the proposed new agreement is to facilitate and reinforce cooperation and develop a marketplace for sound environmental activities in mountain regions in SEE,” explained Frits Schlingemann, head of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Regional Office for Europe. “Such cooperation will make it easier to tackle transboundary issues, it will generate stronger donor support and will eventually lead to protection and sustainable development of the target region.”

The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, in cooperation with UNEP, has launched an intergovernmental consultation process aimed at enhanced regional cooperation in South Eastern Europe on mountain issues.

The idea originated at a meeting in Bolzano in December 2005, where representatives of ministries of environment and NGOs in the region received information on the Carpathian and Alpine experiences. Participants concluded that governments should consider developing a regional legal framework for cooperation. After further intergovernmental consultations a declaration signed by the governments in Pelister, former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, affirmed that a legal framework for cooperation should include Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Kosovo (territory under interim UN administration), and involve Greece and Slovenia. The declaration set the Belgrade 2007 conference as a milestone in the process.

In contrast to the Alpine and Carpathian conventions, the one proposed for SEE will focus on more than a single mountain range and instead cover several: the Dinaric Alps, the Balkan Range, the Rhodope Mountains, the Shar and the Pindus. A new agreement for protection and sustainable development of mountain resources would not only benefit the environment, but also political cooperation in the region. Like the Alpine and Carpathian conventions, the new one will be a framework agreement covering a wide range of thematic issues ranging from biodiversity to industry, energy, transport and local governance.

“Hopefully, countries in the region will ensure a wide consultation process on the draft text of the agreement, with involvement of relevant ministries, civil society organisations, businesses and the public,” said Stephen Stec, head of the Environmental Law Programme at the REC. “In doing so, the parties to the convention will be able to ensure a greater sense of commitment to and ownership of the process,” he said.