The Drin River is a transboundary river basin shared by five riparian countries, i.e., Albania, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Greece, Kosovo, and Montenegro. It provides water resources for drinking, energy, fishing, agriculture, biodiversity, tourism, and industry. The basin represents a very complex water system where rivers, lakes, wetlands, reservoirs, and groundwater interact with each other and create a rich ecosystem.
The hydrology of the extended Drin basin has been dramatically altered by the construction and use of a cascade of dams for hydropower production that led to alteration of water flow, soil erosion of the riverbanks, and induced sedimentation. The decrease in the water level due to diversion has led to exploitation of former wetlands transformed into agricultural or pasture lands, increasing the potential for pollution from agrochemicals and organic pollution. Urbanization, along with unsustainable tourism, has increased illegal deforestation, sand mining, and the disposal of industrial and anthropogenic waste into the river system which has worsened pollution, affecting the environment and biodiversity. Climate variability also seems to be linked to the water balance and flow patterns of the Drin River, leading to the increase in frequency of extreme precipitation events such as floods.
Sharing water, sharing benefits
Coordinated action was required from all riparian countries for the sustainable management of the basin. As a result, the Drin Dialogue, with the support of GWP Mediterranean and UNECE, developed a “Shared Vision for the Sustainable Management of the Drin Basin and Memorandum of Understanding.” The riparian countries signed this in Tirana, Albania, on 25 November 2011. The goal is to reach a point where the scale of management moves from single water bodies to the hydrological interconnected systems, eventually leading from the sharing of waters among riparians and conflicting uses, to the sharing of benefits among stakeholders in an area that is physically, culturally, and historically interconnected.
The Global Environment Fund (GEF) project, “Enabling transboundary cooperation and integrated water resources management in the Extended Drin River Basin” was initiated by UNDP and GWP Mediterranean under the ‘Drin CORDA’ process (Drin Coordinated Action for the implementation of the Drin MoU) to facilitate the implementation of the MoU in addressing the transboundary environmental problems. The objectives of the MoU were to increase accessibility to comprehensive data and adequate information, minimize flooding, control pollution, and reduce damage from hydro-morphological changes. The Drin CORDA enables the operation of a regional transboundary institutional framework which constitutes ministers from the riparians and four groups of experts that are working on the EU Water Framework Directives (WFD), monitoring and information, biodiversity, and floods.
These experts formed an MoU coordinating body also known as the Drin Core Group (DCG). GWP Mediterranean acts a secretariat to the DCG and provides technical and administrative support. A national inter-sectoral coordination mechanism was also established as Inter-ministerial committees (IMCs) where government ministers who have a stake in water use are selected. IMCs from Kosovo and Montenegro were established, and two IMCs from Albania and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia are yet to be formed.
Identifying problems and setting action
The major achievement of the project was the development of the Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis (TDA), a core document that provides necessary information that enables Drin riparians to discuss and identify priority transboundary problems and their causes which inform the formulation of the actions included in the SAP. TDA synthesized the findings of thematic reports on: socio-economic; institutional and legal settings; biodiversity and ecosystems; hydrology and hydrogeology; pollution; and water quality and nexus which are validated through stakeholder engagement.
The key transboundary problems identified in the TDA are deterioration of water quality, variability of hydrological regime, biodiversity degradation, and sediment transport. To further address these priority transboundary issues, a multi-country agreement on action was conducted, known as the Strategic Action Program (SAP), for 5 years, including the shared vision of the Drin Basin, reflecting the TDA that was agreed by all riparian beneficiaries.
The Drin project implementation strategy conducted six demonstration activities: Lake Ohrid Watershed Management Plan; Integrated modelling tool/Wastewater treatment options in the Shkodra city area; Assessing the feasibility of applying micro-insurance schemes in flood prone area; Production of fire-briquettes using excess biomass from Skadar/Shkoder Lake; Constructed Wetland in Karmovik; Design and testing of a multi-purpose (transboundary) groundwater monitoring network at Skadar/Shkoder Lake. These pilot projects feed the SAP implementation in the future. Monitoring and evaluation programs were also set up to measure the impact of SAP. The six major thematic reports causal chain analysis of the TDA and the pilot projects are the baseline indicator for future reference.
The project enables coordinated effort in integrated water resource safeguarding and restoring the ecosystem to promote the sustainable development of the Drin basin.