Landmark decision to protect wildlife and migratory birds
Press release, 5 February 2014
Radolfzell. Albania decides to ban all hunting throughout the whole country for two years. This initiative was announced already two weeks ago by the Albanian Minister of the Environment Lefter Koka. Recently it was communicated to the public that the Parliament now passed this moratorium on hunting. It will enter into force by publication of the law, which is expected for mid-February 2014. “EuroNatur is complimenting the Albanian Government and the Albanian Parliament on this decision”, says Gabriel Schwaderer, executive director of the international conservation foundation EuroNatur. This long overdue step was triggered by a massive decline in wildlife in Albania. “The moratorium on hunting is ground-breaking, as indeed the population numbers of wildlife are alarmingly low in Albania. One of the reasons for this is that every year the wetlands along and in the hinterland of Albania’s Adriatic coastline are being turned into a deadly trap for hundreds of thousands of migratory birds. Now it is essential that the ban on hunting is properly enforced”, says Gabriel Schwaderer.
EuroNatur is cooperating for many years with the Association for the Protection and Preservation of Natural Environment in Albania (PPNEA) and other partners to protect wildlife in Albania. EuroNatur repeatedly called on the Albanian Government to stop the excessive hunting for migratory birds and other wildlife.
Background information:
Cooperating with local conservation NGOs, EuroNatur is engaging mainly in two big programmes to protect wildlife in Albania:
- Protecting migratory birds and their habitats along the Adriatic Flyway
- Protecting the last Balkan lynxes
For further information please contact: EuroNatur, Konstanzer Str. 22, D-78315 Radolfzell, Tel.: +49/7732 - 92 72 10, Fax: +49/7732 - 92 72 22, E-Mail: info@euronatur.org, Internet: www.euronatur.org, contact person: Gabriel Schwaderer, press contact: Katharina Grund