Albania’s Ministry of Agriculture and Tourism recently organised information meetings in Kruja, Berat, Kukes and other regions during which the Agency for Agricultural and Rural Development, in cooperation with the Environmental Services Project (supported by the World Bank and the Swedish Government), announced a second competitive call for the project’s forest and pasture management measure. Representatives from the Ministry of Environment emphasized that the project will contribute to Albania’s objective of planting more than 20 million trees by 2020.

The project’s first call in 2016 concluded with 63 contracts worth EUR 1.7 million, supporting 1,500 farming families and their rural communities in forest and pasture management improvements, livestock water supplies, construction of mountain retreats etc. The second call is for EUR 2.3 million, to be used for afforestation (70%), erosion prevention measures, water for livestock etc.

During the first call, CNVP Albania supported 22 Forest and Pasture Users’ Associations to apply for grants in Diber, Korca, Elbasan, Gjirokastra, Kukës, Lezha, Shkodra and Tirana, key regions where CNVP is implementing the Sida-funded Forests for Local Economic Development project.