OSCE equips park authorities in protected areas to respond to landscape fires aggravated by climate change

Within the framework of the pilot initiative “Fire Resilient Protected Areas: Shar/Šara Mountains and Korab Massif Area”, the OSCE has donated fire suppression equipment to five park management authorities in the four protected areas of Korab-Koritnik, Mavrovo, Shar Mountain and Sharri/Šara during the period April-June 2024. The donation is part of OSCE initiatives to strengthen regional co-operation in tackling wildfire risks in the shared hotspot Shar/Šara Mountains and Korab Massif Area where forest fires were identified as one of the main climate-related security threats.

The pilot initiative is being implemented in partnership with the Regional Fire Monitoring Center for South Eastern Europe and the South Caucasus (RFMC) within the framework of the Joint Co-operation Strategy on climate change and security and its Implementation Plan. The strategy emerged from a regional consultation process in South-Eastern Europe led by the OSCE in co-operation with the Berlin based think-tank adelphi, which brought together a wide range of regional and local stakeholders to identify climate-related security risks in the region as well as opportunities for co-operation.

“This pilot initiative is a concrete example of how the OSCE is tackling climate-related security risk by facilitating regional co-operation to increase resilience to the impacts of climate change, in line with the OSCE Ministerial Council Decision on climate change,” said Bakyt Dzhusupov, Co-ordinator of OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities. “We hope that such co-operation will contribute to good neighbourly relations, prosperity, stability and security,” he added.

The donated fire suppression equipment consists of state-of-the art fire suppression equipment and hand tools, including fire protective gear for the use by the five park management authorities.

“Being equipped with the same type of tools will facilitate the co-operation among park management authorities in responding to and controlling of wild fires in the protected areas,” said Nikola Nikolov, head of the RFMC. “The equipment is a valuable contribution to other activities which include capacity building and trainings on wildfire risk reduction, landscape fire management and early warning for park management authorities and civil emergency response units of the municipalities in the protected areas, as well as the development of landscape fire risk maps for the region,” he added.

Acting Head of the OSCE Presence in Albania Clarisse Pasztory handed over the forest fire equipment to the regional agencies of the protected areas of Kukës and Dibra at an event in Peshkopi, on 3 May 2024 attended by the Deputy Minister of Interior Besfort Lamallari and representatives from other regional and local authorities. “The preservation of protected areas, such as Korab-Koritnik is a joint aim and commitment. We have a lot worth protecting here: the environment, the people who live here, and the people who come here to visit and recharge,” said Pasztory in her address.

“The equipment is an important contribution to our daily work in protecting this valuable natural reserve from the impacts of wild fires,” said Ibrahim Dehari, Director of the Regional Authority of the Shar Mountain as the equipment was handed over in April this year. “Already now, we are feeling the pressure that climate change is putting on our vegetation.”

This initiative is being conducted within the framework of the OSCE extra-budgetary project “Strengthening responses to security risks from climate change in South-Eastern Europe, Eastern Europe, the South Caucasus, and Central Asia”, which is implemented by OCEEA in partnership with adelphi and funded by Andorra, Austria, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States.