REPUBLIC OF ALBANIA
MINISTRY
OF
TERRITORIAL ADJUSTMENT
AND
TOURISM
Albania Coastal Zone Development
and
Clean-up Program
Environment and Social Safeguards Framework (Phase I)
April 20, 2005
Integrated Coastal Zone Management and Clean-up Project
Environment and Social Safeguards Framework
Albania Coastal Zone Development and Cleanup Program
Environment and Social Safeguards Framework (Phase I)
Table of Contents
1. Introduction 1
2. Background 2
2.1. Urbanization and Land Use 2
2.2. Lack of Adequate Infrastructure 2
2.3. Protection of the Physical and Natural Environmental 2
2.4. Pressures on Biodiversity and Areas of Nature Protection 3
2.5. Unsustainable Use of Natural Resources 3
2.6. Land Ownership 4
3. Project Description 7
4. Environment Safeguards 8
4.1. Description of the Legal, Institutional and Administrative Framework 9
4.1.1. Albanian Legal Provisions 9
4.1.2. Administrative Framework 10
4.1.3. Comparison with World Bank Policies 11
4.1.4. Guidelines and Procedures 13
4.2. Operational Procedures for Environmental Assessments 15
4.2.1. Public Consultation and Information Disclosure 15
4.2.2. Environmental Management Plan 18
4.2.3. Implementation and Monitoring of an EMP 19
4.3. Generic Potential Environmental Issues 19
4.3.1. Solid Waste Component 20
4.3.2. Porto Romano Component 22
4.3.3. Saranda Port Component 26
4.3.4. Coastal Village Conservation and Development Component 30
4.4. Alternatives to each Component or Sub-project 32
4.5. Mitigation Measures 32
4.5.1. Solid Waste Component 33
4.5.2. Porto Romano Component 34
4.5.3. Saranda Port Component 34
4.5.4. Coastal Village Conservation and Development Component 35
5. Social Safeguards 50
5.1. Resettlement Policy 50
5.1.1. Policy Framework 50
5.1.2. Operational Steps 54
5.2. Process Framework for Butrint National Park 58
5.3. Resettlement Plan, Porto Romano Hot Spot 59
6. Cultural Assets 65
6.1. Description of the Legal, Institutional and Administrative Framework 65
6.1.1. Albanian Legal Provisions 65
6.1.2. Administrative Framework 65
6.1.3. Comparison with World Bank policy and European Treaties 67
6.2. Guidelines & Procedures 68
7. Public Disclosure of the ESSF 71
7.1. Public Discussion of ESSF 71
7.2. Public Access to ESSF 71
Annexes
Annex 1: Types of projects relevant to the ICZMCP that appear in the LawonEIAAppendices and other Documents 73
Annex2: Model Forms for an Environmental Management Plan 77
Annex 3: Environmental Assessments and Checklists 79
Annex 4: Documents required for Issuing of a Construction Permit 84
Annex 5: Minutes of ESSF Consultation Meetings 85
Annex 6: Land Acquisition - Legal Provisions 94
Annex 7 Photographs of proposed property & surrounding area, Shkozet,Durres 95
ICZMCP_ESSF_final ii 20 April 2005
Integrated Coastal Zone Management and Clean-up Project
Environment and Social Safeguards Framework
1. Introduction
This document presents the Environment and Social Safeguards Framework (ESSF) for Phase1 of the proposed Albania Coastal Zone Development and Cleanup Program, entitled Integrated Coastal Zone Management and Clean-up Project (ICZMCP). The main purpose of the ESSF is to be a tool for ensuring that the infrastructure subprojects implemented through the ICZMCP comply with the existing laws, regulations and customs in Albania as well as with the Bank’s Operation Policies on Environmental Assessment, Involuntary Resettlement and Cultural Heritage, and will not have a lasting adverse impact on the country’s population, the natural environment or assets of particular cultural value.
A summary of the possible environmental and social issues and mitigation measures is presented in the chapters that follow. The budget for implementing the ESSF has been included in the project cost, and includes funds for conducting site-specific EIAs, capacity building and EIA and SEA training for MoTAT (including the Project Coordination Unit (PCU) and any implementation teams established for the various components[1]) and local government staff, the salary of the Environmental Officer of the Project Coordination Team (PCT), and the cost of monitoring.
2. Background
Although the coastal regions of Albania have been commonly recognized as the country’s most valuable development asset since the 1990s, many unfavorable phenomena have continued to prevail during the transition to democracy, along with new detrimental development trends described below.
2.1. Urbanization and Land Use
Haphazard / unregulated urbanization. Uncontrolled urbanization is presently the single most important development issue facing the Southern Albanian coast. Its consequences include loss of land, natural resources and valuable landscapes; inadequate urbanization -including sprawl development, and speculative and illegal building; lack of infrastructure and poor sanitation standards.
Illegal building. Illegal building is widespread phenomena throughout the coastal area. Also, although the legality of a building does not guarantee that it will be acceptable and in accordance with the good building/urban and land use planning practice, respect for the law and territorial development plans (which are the “building law” for the zone) is a necessary precondition for orderly development.
Cultural and natural heritage. The traditional ambience of the cities and villages along the coast has been carelessly and irreversibly degraded by new developments that frequently ignore traditional urban/architectural patterns. Attractive pristine natural landscapes are often damaged by careless introduction of the aesthetically inappropriate developments.
Sprawl development. Sprawl development along the coast, as opposed to compact settlements, wastes valuable coastal land and resources. In addition it makes provision of infrastructure much more difficult and expensive. Phasing and clustering of developments would decrease the areas to be served, making the work easier and reducing costs.
2.2. Lack of Adequate Infrastructure
Transportation infrastructure. The present road and port infrastructure in the coastal area is completely incompatible with the vision of the high-quality tourism. Many roads are in poor condition, and illegal or ill-planned buildings in many places hamper possible road improvements. Infrastructure for nautical tourism remains non-existent.
Energy supply. Energy shortages are still common. Despite the Southern Region receiving preferential treatment over the past years, some power cuts continue. The middle part of the Southern coastal region is the most affected.
Water supply. The region has large freshwater resources. However, inadequate (old and poorly-maintained) distribution networks, in conjunction with increasing demand from tourism, could result with water shortages problems in the future.
2.3. Protection of the Physical and Natural Environmental
Solid waste management. Generally there are no appropriate solid waste management systems anywhere in Albania. Only 50-70 % of the waste collected in the cities is disposed of at designated landfills, which are usually simple dumpsites. The remainder, along with m ost town and village waste, is usually tipped indiscriminately at the nearest available site, including along roadsides, riverbanks and on open land in built-up areas, irrespective of its type. Besides the environmental consequences this practice significantly limits the attractiveness of potential tourist areas.
Large-scale construction work in some areas, especially in Saranda, and the illegal dumping of the construction waste, has created additional pressure on environment coming from. It is not unknown for waste to be dumped along the shoreline, and as it is not removed and it takes a long time to degrade the coastline is affected for a considerable time.
Wastewater management. The widespread lack of basic infrastructure in the region causes the relatively small population and the low economic activity to have a relatively high impact on the environment. Only Vlora and Saranda have any kind of sewerage network, and whilst the coverage of both networks being improved neither has 100% coverage. Only Vlora has any kind of treatment facility, however a collector sewer and a longer sea outfall recently constructed in Saranda have improved seawater quality in the harbor. Elsewhere, wastewater is put into the ground, into valleys or rivers that discharge to the sea, or is discharged directly into the sea.
There is no systematic monitoring of the seawater quality on the beaches. However, areas with inadequate underwater outfalls are well known to the local population and are avoided.
Pollution from ships. Vlora Regional Administration ranks oil spills from passing ships amongst its major concerns. The proximity of the ship routes to the shore and unfavorable current patterns that transport pollution to shores of the southern region add to the problem.
Industrial pollution. Industrial pollution has decreased rapidly since collapse of the former socialist economy, and closing of the majority of polluting industries. However, threats are still present, both from the abandoned former industrial sites and from newly planned plants. Porto Romano is considered one of the most contaminated locations in the Balkans, and suffers from soil and groundwater contamination caused by former chemical plant. Fortunately, further to the south there was practically no industry during the socialist era. The area therefore has the advantage of a comparatively unaffected natural environment.
2.4. Pressures on Biodiversity and Areas of Nature Protection
The legislative framework for nature protection and protection of biodiversity has improved considerably since the early 1990s. However, the capacity to implement the laws remains weak, especially in the face of strong development pressures in some areas. The greatest current threat to biodiversity in the coastal area is associated with the rapid development of housing, infrastructure, and tourism capacity in this area, and the lack of any significant effort to avoid the most sensitive environments.
2.5. Unsustainable Use of Natural Resources
Quarries. Many new legal quarries have been open in the area (especially around Saranda) as result of the market demand for the construction material. There is a significant number of illegal quarries too. At the same time, there is no evidence of attempts to reuse excavated material, consequently it is dumped indiscriminately as construction waste, including on the shoreline and in the sea, causing additional pressure on the environment and landscape.
Agriculture and forestry. The widespread drainage and reclamation of swamps, clearing of forests for new agricultural land, terracing and the establishment of fruit tree plantations, cultivation of pastures, during the socialist period, had a strong adverse impact on biodiversity. This has changed as agriculture has lost its previous importance in 1990s, and now there are huge abandoned and completely neglected areas under the olive groves in the region. Overgrazing remains problem, as the number of livestock (mainly sheep and goats) has continued to increase. Rural poverty, exacerbated by the economic collapse in 1997, has resulted in severe damage to forests from illegal logging. Combined with the problem of overgrazing, which prevents forest regeneration, deforestation, with all its consequences, is one of the major environmental problems in Albania.
2.6. Land Ownership
Land ownership along the coastal strip is still disputed with the government, and is proving to be a critical constraint to development. The unresolved issues of restitution and compensation are particularly problematic along the Vlora - Saranda coastline and have prevented the process of First Registration of Immovable property from being completed.[2]
The Law 7501 On Land, dated 19.07.1991, recognized private property rights for the first time in over 50 years. Under the Law, rather than restituting such land to its former owners, land and property was distributed based on the “Principle of Equality” to the families living on the cooperative and state farms in July 1991. Local Land Commissions were responsible for determining who received each parcel of land according to the available agricultural land and the number of persons living on land at the time.
According to Law 7699 On Compensating Former Owners for the Value of Agricultural Land, dated 15.04.1993, compensation was the only remedy for former owners not resident on the land at the time. The State Committee on Restitution and Compensation of Property to Ex-Owners, with branches in every district, was responsible for determining claims for compensation. This law proved to be very controversial and has never been implemented.
The former owners of the land claim that Law 7501 violates their property rights, and is thus in violation of the Albanian Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights. At its most extreme, the former owners are calling for complete abrogation of the Law.
There have been many discussions and debates regarding agricultural land division. Opponents of Law 7501 claim that its implementation in rural areas is less than 50% and, in the North particularly, farmers have returned to old boundaries. Although this argument is technically true, legal documents were issued under the authority of Law 7501 and legal title has been registered in the Immovable Property Registration System. Approximately 80% of the country’s agricultural land, over 2.1 million parcels, has been registered and legal title has been issued to the owners.
For urban property, another system was adopted to deal with claims of restitution and compensation. Pursuant to Law 7698, dated 15.04.1993, On Restitution and Compensating Former Property Owners the property rights of former owners of land and buildings in urban areas were recognized and the property was generally restituted. However, for those properties that were not restituted, compensation was to be given. As with Law 7699, the compensation program was never implemented, leaving claims unsatisfied.
In order to meet the requirements of the 1998 Constitution and also to fulfill a European Union Stability and Association conditionality, a new law was approved to address restitution and compensation issues. Law 9235, dated 29.7.2004, On Restitution and Compensation of Property regulates the restitution/compensation of immovable property expropriated, nationalized, or confiscated since 29.11.1944. Although the new law has addressed many of the problems from the 1993 laws, the main controversial aspect, Law 7501, remains in force. Thus, there is still no restitution of agricultural land. However, the new standard for compensation is based on the current ‘fair market value’.
With respect to the main Project area, the Vlora - Saranda coastline, the following are some observations on land ownership and the local population’s disputes with the government:
1. Each village is unique in how it has or has not implemented the land reform process so it is very difficult to make broad generalizations. The vast majority of villages seem to have reached a consensus that Law 7501 is not acceptable given the peculiarities of smallholdings, absence of large landlords, perspective of tourist development rather than agricultural production and for historical reasons. In some places such as Himare, up to 3 different Local Land Commissions have been set up over the past 14 years resulting in 3 different sets of land division documentation.
2. The presence of ‘new’ families, families that were transferred to the area under the socialist regime to work on the cooperatives, complicates the dynamics within the village. The villages seem united in the belief that complete restitution is the only solution and seem very reluctant to compromise, especially with regard to the ‘new’ families that have formal rights under Law 7501. The reluctance to accommodate ‘new’ families will complicate the possibility of finding a compromise solution to the issue.