Outlook on Climate Change Adaptation in the Western Balkan Mountains

management and land monitoring; establishing measures against fires and floods; and raising public awareness about the importance of land protection. Although issues regarding climate change adaptation are not mentioned specifically in laws, there are competencies among ministries and relevant bodies. In addition to these strategic documents, all countries except Kosovo 1 have undertaken the National Capacity Self-Assessment (NCSA) for Global Environment Management, which assesses the key capacity needs and cross-cutting capacity bottlenecks in relation to implementation of the three Rio conventions (biodiversity, climate change and desertification/land degradation). This NCSA document calls for the fulfillment of national reporting obligations by each UNCCD Party, which the countries have accomplished to varying extents over successive reporting cycles. 15 All countries except Kosovo 1 included performance indicators in their Fifth National Reports to the UNCCD in 2014. Another significant document on land degradation is the National Action Program (NAP), currently being developed through a participatory approach. The NAP should provide practical steps and measures to combat land degradation in specific ecosystems. Most of the NAP documents are under different stages of development, 16 and none of them have yet been officially adopted. One of the significant initiatives/programmes for climate change adaptation at the regional level is the Drought Management Centre for South-Eastern Europe (DMCSEE). Other interesting and relevant initiatives/programmes for land resources are the Adriatic Ionian Program 2014–2020 including Croatia, Albania, BiH, Montenegro, and Serbia,

Over the past decades, drought-related damages have had a significant impact on welfare and the economy within the Western Balkans. In 2009, a Drought Management Centre for South-East Europe (DMCSEE) was established, largely thanks to the work of the International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage (ICID), the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), UNCCD and national meteorological and hydrological services. Regional cooperation on drought monitoring

The mission of the DMCSEE is to coordinate and facilitate the development, assessment, and application of drought risk-management tools and policies in South-Eastern Europe in order to improve drought preparedness and reduce drought impacts. It also focuses onmonitoring drought and assessing its related risks and vulnerability. As part of its information services, it publishes a monthly drought bulletin.

For more information, please visit www.dmcsee.org

institutions and organizations. However, in the other countries monitoring and reporting is being enhanced. In Albania, the Integrated Environmental Monitoring System has been established and expanded for soil pollution and monitoring, while in Montenegro, monitoring of soil contamination by hazardous substances and monitoring of soil quality is undertaken. The Croatian Environment Information System (CEIS) is underway to link various databases including soil/land issues. Generally speaking, the participatory process for policy development includes consultative and inter-ministry meetings, seminars and conferences which involve various sectors that are directly or indirectly linked to land resources (e.g. water, agriculture and forests) and their institutions and organizations. Although a gender balance within the National Coordination Body (NCB) for UNCCD has been reported for Croatia, Albania and FYR Macedonia, an analysis of strategic documents shows that gender issues do not appear to be pertinent to land degradation and desertification.

among others; the Danube Transnational Programme 2014–2020 including Croatia, BiH, Montenegro, and Serbia, among others; and the Balkan-Mediterranean Transnational Programme 2014–2020 including Albania and FYR Macedonia, among others. Mountainous areas are partially mainstreamed through the land resource sector policies. For example, in strategic documents, mountain areas are mentioned in terms of sustainable land management (e.g. rehabilitation of irrigation and drainage infrastructure, improving watershed management, and forest regeneration/afforestation), which can be indirectly linked to the climate change adaptation responses. For instance, the National Adaptation Strategy (2014) for Kosovo 1 foresees several actions to address adaptation for mountain regions, which include soil conservation measures. 17 Monitoring and reporting on land resources is generally scarce in Kosovo, 1 FYR Macedonia and BiH since there is no national soil monitoring. Efforts are limited to ad hoc observations on the scope of projects, soil quality evaluations, studies and other activities performed by different

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