Norma Center

The credibility of a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve does not rest on designation alone. It depends on whether the territory continues to demonstrate, in practice, that biodiversity conservation, sustainable development, scientific learning, and public participation can be pursued together. The Vjosa Valley was admitted to UNESCO’s World Network of Biosphere Reserves in 2025, recognising one of Europe’s last largely free-flowing river systems and the communities whose lives and livelihoods are connected to it. That recognition creates an opportunity for Albania and the wider EuroMAB community, but it also creates a responsibility to examine whether decisions affecting ecologically connected landscapes remain consistent with the principles that justify international recognition.
The EuroMAB Youth Network and Norma Center therefore submit this position in a spirit of cooperation. The purpose is not to dispute Albania’s sovereignty or to prejudge the legality of any individual land-use decision. It is to invite a careful examination of whether recent legal, planning, and governance developments affecting the Narta–Pishë Poro Protected Landscape may weaken the ecological coherence and participatory foundations of the Vjosa Valley Biosphere Reserve. A Biosphere Reserve is strongest when difficult questions can be addressed openly, on the basis of evidence, and without reducing the discussion to a choice between environmental protection and economic development.