Albania embarks on the IUCN Green List journey

“The IUCN Green List is a framework that helps ensure that protected and conserved areas are not only established but also effectively managed and equitably governed, while celebrating successes in protected area management and recognising leaders,” stressed Oliver Avramoski, Director of IUCN's Regional Office for Eastern Europe and Central Asia (ECARO). “We commend Albania, an IUCN State Member, as the first country in the Western Balkans to embark on the Green List journey, and for its commitment to review and strengthen the governance and management of its protected areas,” he added. 

Well-managed and well-governed protected areas deliver long-lasting conservation results for both people and nature. The IUCN Green List provides a globally recognised framework that guides protected and conserved areas toward effective, inclusive and accountable management, highlighting best practices and offering a benchmark for continuous progress.

“Albania’s engagement with the IUCN Green List Standard represents a strategic effort to elevate our protected areas to internationally recognised levels of excellence,” stated Daniel Pirushi, Director of the National Agency of Protected Areas of Albania, during her opening remarks. “We are fully committed to embedding global principles of good governance, effective management and long-term conservation into our national framework. This process reflects not only our environmental responsibility but also our European ambition, bringing Albania’s protected areas in line with EU environmental standards as part of our broader path toward accession. Through this transformative journey, we aim to ensure that our natural heritage is valued, safeguarded and positioned within the global network of well-managed protected areas. The process will begin with the Vjosa River National Park, an exceptional natural asset and a powerful symbol of environmental protection, highlighting our intention to lead with areas of outstanding ecological and cultural value. Implemented in cooperation with IUCN, the Green List serves as a practical framework to advance the quality and accountability of protected area management in Albania. It reinforces our determination to adopt measurable standards, strengthen institutional capacity and promote transparency in decision-making. Ultimately, it is a step toward building a resilient and internationally recognised framework for nature conservation,” she added.

As an important global standard for conservation planning and progress, the IUCN Green List:

• Requires demonstration of measurable conservation outcomes tailored to each site's natural and associated cultural and ecosystem services, values;
• Encourages adaptive and inclusive governance and management planning, with strong stakeholder engagement; 
• Promotes periodic monitoring and accountability, helping assess whether conservation goals are being achieved; and
• Fosters collaboration at multiple levels, through a shared and transparent methodology.

Thierry Lefebvre, IUCN Green List Programme Manager introducing the standard and process 

Besides the Vjosa River National Park, the Green List process will include four additional national parks, namely the Dajti Mountain, Shebenik, Divjaka-Karavasta and Prespa. At the June workshop in Tirana, representatives from each of the five pilot parks presented summaries of their governance structures, human resource capacity, stakeholder involvement, planning systems, conservation values, and key challenges. They also shared experiences using the Management Effectiveness Tracking Tool (METT), where applicable. 
The next phase of the process will take place in September, when protected area managers will evaluate their sites piloting the new online Green List Self-Assessment Tool (GL-SAT), which will be officially launched at the IUCN World Conservation Congress. Reflecting on the results, the participants will agree on a roadmap for each site to strengthen protection, improve responses to threats, and elevate their conservation impact. 

The Green List process in Albania is being implemented by IUCN in close collaboration with national authorities and local experts. It is part of a wider effort supported by the outdoor clothing company Patagonia and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. This initiative contributes directly to SDG 15: Life on Land, supports the achievement of Target 3 of the Global Biodiversity Framework, and advances the operationalisation of the Vjosa River National Park, Albania’s newest national park, protecting one of the last remaining free-flowing rivers in Europe. 
 

More: Vjosa Wild River National Park, Phase II - operationalisation and effective management