Pelister National Park Management Plan to be updated thanks to PONT’s Grant

Mirjam de Koning, Executive Director of PONT, and Amet Axhiu, Director of the Public Institution Pelister National Park (PIPNP) signed the first Grant Agreement on 28 June 2018 in Resen.

The Agreement provides for a financial contribution from PONT to develop a new Management Plan for Pelister National Park. PONT’s financing is matched by contributions from the park administration and the European Union through the Twinning Project “Strengthening the capacities for effective implementation of the acquis in the field of nature protection”.

The Agreement allows the PIPNP to update the first Management Plan adopted in 2006 for a period of 10 years, and to gather missing data for the significant geographical extension of the Park’s area in 2007.  The new document will also address the requirements arising from the transposition of EU Birds and Habitats Directives into the national Law on Nature Protection. The management planning process will be accompanied by capacity building activities focused on monitoring priority species and habitats. Public participation in the development of the Management Plan will be facilitated through the Scientific Council and Council of Stakeholders, as well as by the procedures under the mandatory Strategic Environmental Assessment. The activities under the Agreement will be implemented and coordinated by the PIPNP between July 2018 and November 2019.