Open Regional Funds for South-East Europe Biodiversity (ORF BD) REGIONAL COOPERATION FOR BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION IN SOUTH-EAST EUROPE

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1 Open Regional Funds for South-East Europe Biodiversity (ORF BD) REGIONAL COOPERATION FOR BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION IN SOUTH-EAST EUROPE

2 TABLE OF CONTENT 1. Introduction Agenda of the Launching Event Project Context Opening Ms. Stana Bozovic, Ministry of Agriculture and Environmental Protection, Belgrade, State Secretary, extract from opening speech Dr. Siegmund Müller, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, Country Director, Serbia, extract from opening speech Mr. Goran Svilanovic, Regional Cooperation Council, Secretary General, extract from opening speech Ms. Gabriele Rechbauer, Open Regional Funds for South0East Europe Biodiversity, Sector Fund Manager, presentation Ms. Natasa Djokic, City of Belgrade Secretary for Environmental Protection, Assisting Secretary, extract from opening speech Module 1, Context and Panel Discussion Dr. Laure Ledoux, European Commission, DG Environment B.2. Biodiversity, Deputy Head of the Biodiversity Unit in DG Environment, presentation Mr. Josef Seitz, Global 21, France, Director, presentation A Long Term Strategic Vision for the Western Balkans Mediterranean Basin Biodiversity Hotspot (CEPF 2016), short video Summary on panel discussion with representatives of SEE governments in charge of environment Achievements, gaps and challenges related to implementation of EU Biodiversity Strategy and Un Convention on Biological Diversity 0 lessons, learned, priorities and opportunities for regional cooperation Module 2, Economic Value of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services Prof. Rudolf de Groot, Associate Professor in Integrated Ecosystem Assessment & Management with the Environmental Systems Analysis Group of Wageningen University, the Netherlands, presentation Working groups discussion on regional priorities for each ORF BD intervention areas Working groups final boards presentations Working groups - final boards July 22, 2012 Footer text here

3 TABLE OF CONTENT 7. Module 3, Transboundary Ecosystem Management Dr. Deni Porej, Director of Conservation Programmes at WWF Mediterranean, presentation Working groups final boards Module 4, Biodiversity Reporting and Information Management Mr. Boris Erg, Director of the IUCN Regional Office for Eastern Europe and Central Asia (IUCN ECARO), presentation Working groups final boards Summary of the Launching Event Working Group Results Intervention field Economic Value of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services Intervention field Transboundary Ecosystem Management Intervention field Biodiversity Reporting and Information Management Wrap up Mr. Srdjan Susic, Regional Cooperation Council, Senior Expert for Sustainable Growth, speech Ms. Gabriele Rechbauer, Open Regional Funds for South0East Europe Biodiversity, Sector Fund Manager, speech Evaluation The Launching Event Participants Group Photo Assessment of Biodiversity Framework in the Western Balkan Region, summary List of the Launching Event Participants Fact Sheet, Open Regional Funds for South-East Europe Biodiversity Roll-up, Open Regional Funds for South-East Europe Biodiversity Posters, Open Regional Funds for South-East Europe Biodiversity Media: Advisory, Press Release and Overview July 22, 2012 Footer text here

4 INTRODUCTION The Launching Event of the Open Regional Funds for South-East Europe - Biodiversity (ORF BD) funded by the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) held on 4th-5th February 2016 in Belgrade aimed to explore the synergies between current regional biodiversity conservation initiatives, to create targeted partnerships to achieve sustainable results and to consult on priorities for eligible sub-projects. The launching event was supported by the Regional Council of Cooperation (RCC), the political partner of the ORF BD and the secretariat of the Regional Environment Working Group (REWG) related to the implementation of the SEE 2020 environmental dimension. The preparation of the event raised a significant interest and showed that regional biodiversity initiatives are on high demand in the West Balkan region. The actual event brought together about 100 participants including high-level government representatives, governmental institutions, academic and research institutes, non-governmental organisations, international organisations and representatives from related projects and was considered as a great success for sharing of regional information, networking and planning. Unfortunately, due to organisational limitations not all interested stakeholders could participate but the ORF BD will roll out a communication strategy to inform all interested stakeholders on the event results and future activities. The ORF BD will continue supporting targeted regional meetings related to sub-projects or as cross-cutting activities. The following document represent the Launching Event Report and includes the agenda, opening statements, the presentations of the keynote speakers, a summary presentation of the panel discussion, a summary of the working group for results proposals for sub-projects, closing remarks, next steps and the launching event evaluation, the annexes, the list of participants together with ORF BD relevant communication materials project fact sheet, posters, media coverage extracts. Thank you for a successful event! ORF Biodiversity Team February th -5 th February 2016

5 AGENDA OF THE LAUNCHING EVENT - Thursday, February 4th, 2016 Time Topic REGISTRATION AND OPENING (PLENARY) Registration participants Opening by WS facilitator Mr. J. Seitz Welcome Ministry of Agriculture and Environmental Protection, Belgrade, State Secretary, Mrs. S. Bozovic Welcome GIZ Country Director, Mr. S. Mueller Welcome Regional Cooperation Council (RCC), SG Mr. G. Svilanovic Presentation ORF Biodiversity Project by GIZ ORF BD Sector Fund Manager, Mrs. G. Rechbauer Tree donation by City of Belgrade, Secretariat for Environmental Protection, Mrs. N. Djokic MODULE 1 CONTEXT AND PANEL DISCUSSION (PLENARY) Key note : Mid-term Review of EU Biodiversity Strategy 2020 Mrs. L. Ledoux, DG Environment, Deputy-Head Biodiversity Unit, Brussels Key note: Assessment of Biodiversity Framework in the Western Balkans Mr. J. Seitz, Director, Global 21 Consulting, France Open plenary discussion Coffee break including media contacts and interviews Video streaming A Long-Term Strategic Vision for the Western Balkans - Mediterranean Basin Biodiversity Hotspot (CEPF 2016) Panel discussion with representatives of SEE governments in charge of environment: Achievements, gaps and challenges related to implementation of EU Biodiversity Strategy and UN Convention on Biological Diversity - lessons learned, priorities and opportunities for regional cooperation Moderator: Mr. J. Seitz Introduction of working group modalities and moderator team, WS facilitator Mr. J. Seitz Lunch break MODULE 2 - ECONOMIC VALUE OF BIODIVERSITY AND ECOSYSTEM SERVICES Key note: Economic Value of Ecosystem Services: Investing in Conservation and Restoration Pays! Prof. D. de Groot, University of Wageningen, Netherlands Working group rooms Parallel working groups: Review and discussion of sub-project ideas (ORF BD team and moderators) Coffee break Continue parallel WG sessions Plenary Presentation of sub-project ideas Dinner 5 4 th -5 th February 2016

6 AGENDA OF THE LAUNCHING EVENT - Friday, February 5th, 2016 MODULE 3 - TRANSBOUNDARY ECOSYSTEM MANAGEMENT Time Registration Topic participants Key note: REGISTRATION Transboundary AND Ecosystem OPENING Management (PLENARY) in South-East Europe Registration Example of Dinaric participants Arc Park WWF, Opening Mr. by D. WS Porej facilitator Mr. J. Seitz Welcome Ministry Working of Agriculture group and rooms Environmental Protection, Parallel Belgrade, working State Secretary, groups: Review Mrs. Stana and discussion Bozovic of sub-project ideas (ORF Welcome BD team GIZ Country and moderators)with Director, Mr. S. integrated Mueller coffee break Welcome Regional Cooperation Plenary Council (RCC), SG Mr. G. Svilanovic Presentation Presentation of ORF sub-project Biodiversity ideas Project by GIZ ORF BD Sector Fund Lunch Manager, break Mrs. G. Rechbauer MODULE 4 - Tree BIODIVERSITY donation by REPORTING City of Belgrade, AND Secretariat INFORMATION for Environmental MANAGEMENT Key Protection, note: Regional Mrs. N. State Djokic of Nature Conservation in South-East Europe - MODULE Challenges 1 CONTEXT and Opportunities AND PANEL for DISCUSSION Biodiversity Monitoring, (PLENARY) Information Management, Key note : Mid-term Reporting Review of EU Biodiversity Strategy 2020 IUCN, Mrs. L. Mr. Ledoux, B. Erg DG Environment, Deputy-Head Biodiversity Unit, Brussels Working group rooms Parallel Key note: working Assessment groups: of Review Biodiversity and discussion Framework of sub-project in the Western ideas (ORF Balkans BD team and moderators)with integrated coffee break Mr. J. Seitz, Global21, France Plenary Presentation Open plenary of discussion sub-project ideas Coffee WRAP-UP, break NEXT including STEPS media AND contacts CLOSING and REMARKS interviews ORF Video BD streaming Sector Fund A Long-Term Manager, Mrs. Strategic G. Rechbauer Vision for the Western RCC Balkans Environment, - Mediterranean Mr. S. Susic Basin Biodiversity Hotspot (CEPF 2016) Dinner 6 4 th -5 th February 2016

7 PROJECT CONTEXT Context and rationale: South-East Europe (SEE) is extraordinarily rich in terms of biodiversity and harbours a wide number of ecosystems and endemic species. Biodiversity in SEE as elsewhere in the world is not confined to country borders, and the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity requires an integrated and mostly transboundary or regional approach. However, the status of biodiversity (species, ecosystems and genes) in the region is largely endangered mainly due to other development priorities, lack of knowledge on the value of biodiversity and ecosystem services, weak technical and financial capacity of relevant institutions and unmanaged human interventions aggravated by increasingly noticeable climate change impacts. Although the countries of South-East Europe have developed an initial political and legal framework for the conservation of their biodiversity and report on the biodiversity status to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the operational implementation is lagging behind and positive results from conservation efforts are limited. The awareness of both the civil society and decision makers regarding the value of biodiversity, ecosystems and ecosystem services remains weak. All the SEE governments are at the same time still committed to join the EU and recognize the importance of progressing with the relevant policy and legal framework. However, biodiversity-relevant organisations in South-East Europe have been insufficiently using the potentials of regional cooperation for the purpose of implementation of the EU Biodiversity Strategy Regional networks for the exchange of experiences, data and transfer of know-how as well as for pooling external financial resources are not available or are available to some degree only. 7 4 th -5 th February 2016

8 PROJECT CONTEXT Project: The German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) is financing the Open Regional Funds (ORF) for South-East Europe Biodiversity Project as an addition to the on-going ORF cross-sectoral and sectoral modules (EU-integration, legal reform, energy efficiency, modernisation of municipal services, foreign trade promotion). The project is scheduled to run for three years until mid-2018 and is implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ). The political project partner is the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC). The methodical approach includes long-term and shortterm technical assistance, capacity-building measures and financial services through the implementation of sub-projects. Project objective: Biodiversity-relevant organisations in Southeast Europe are increasingly using regional cooperation for the implementation of the EU Biodiversity Strategy For the purpose of achieving the project objective and expected impacts, specific sub-projects and measures are planned in three focus areas: Raised awareness of relevant actors in the region regarding the economic value of biodiversity and ecosystem services; Improved skills of regional network partners regarding biodiversity reporting and information management; and Introduction of measures regarding transboundary ecosystem management. 8 4 th -5 th February 2016

9 OPENING EXTRACT FROM SPEECH Ms. Stana Bozovic Ms. Stana Bozovic, MA born in 1962, lives in Belgrade, Serbia. She has graduated defectology at the Faculty of Special Education and Rehabilitation in Belgrade and obtained MA in International business. Also, she is PhD in environmental management and sustainable development. Within political engagement, Ms. Stana Bozovic is one of the founders of Serbian Progressive Party and President of Council for Child Protection and Social Affairs within the party. She currently holds the position of State Secretary of the Agriculture and Environmental Protection, Chief of Negotiation team for Chapter 27, and is the President of the Government s Council for Gender Equality and Vice-President of Political Council for Implementation of UN Resolution Ms. Stana Bozovic, Ministry of Agriculture and Environmental Protection, Belgrade, State Secretary All changes leading to the decrease of biological diversity that have been documented worldwide by this day are, more or less, visible in our country as well. The negative impact is progressing faster and stronger, even within the areas under protection. Thus, it is necessary for us to accept the serious warnings about preventing the rapid biodiversity decline worldwide as one of our most important tasks for the future and to participate in global efforts to preserve biodiversity to the best of our abilities. The irreversible loss of biodiversity has a permanent impact on the survival of the remaining species, including mankind. This is the reason why biodiversity should be the focal point of the public interest. The Convention on Biological Diversity defines our global obligations to preserve and to use biodiversity in a sustainable manner, and the Republic of Serbia, being a contracting party of this Convention since the year 2002, fully respects its basic principles. Conserving biodiversity principles should become a part of the strategic policy in Serbia, a major challenge and very important task for us all. Although this is our task, we cannot ignore the fact that the fight against biodiversity decline requires major financial investments. The European Union, UN organizations and bilateral institutions support our efforts to decrease biodiversity decline. In return, we remain dedicated to this goal by giving priority to preventing biodiversity decrease in our developmental programs. We invest into establishing and managing a functional informational system, which is the most important foundation of future monitoring. We support the idea of creating a politic based on evidences, which is the reason why we strongly care about exploring the possibilities of further improving the cooperation in protected areas in cross-border context. An example of this is us being an active part of the Danube strategy a process of high importance for Serbia and the entire region, as a method for prioritizing and coordinating activities in all sectors of applied policies and EU accession negotiation. We expect that our partnership will result in the GIZ ORF Biodiversity project supporting the Republic of Serbia and the entire region of South-East Europe in finding a solution for this problem. 9 4 th -5 th February 2016

10 10 OPENING - EXTRACT FROM SPEECH Dr. Siegmund Müller Dr. Siegmund Müller, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, Country Director, Serbia Biodiversity conservation measures and policies are urgent and future-oriented responses to a recognized and increasingly acute global, regional, national and particularly local problem. The German Federal Government (BMZ) sees biodiversity (BD) conservation as a key element of the post-2015 development agenda. Funds made available for international BD conservation have been more than doubled since 2008 and more than doubled compared to the average of the years 2006 to 2010 and a full commitment is in place on combating climate change and meeting the UN Sustainable Developmental Goals. GIZ is mandated by BMZ to implement global, regional and bilateral technical assistance projects in order to mainstreaming biodiversity goals in all important policy areas. In SEE the GIZ biodiversity relevant portfolio includes especially the ongoing regional project Conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity at Lakes Prespa, Ohrid and Skadar (CSBL), the bilateral project Conservation of Agrobiodiversity in rural Albania (CABRA) and the regional project Rural development by integrated forest and water resource management in South-East-Europe (LEIWW). Other GIZ projects support the integration of biodiversity in an economic sector for example tourism such as the Regional programme for support of cross-border tourism at the middle and lower Danube river via the Danube Competence Center and supported the completed transnational initiative Peaks of the Balkans Trail. The ORF BD project is the latest addition to the five existing ORF modules whereas all ORF modules support member states of the South-East Europe region in their efforts towards EU accession through regional cooperation. The ORF BD is seeking adding value to existing regional efforts and initiatives and will collaborate with partners and actors at all levels including government and civil society representatives to assist with addressing the long-term challenges related to biodiversity conservation and integration in other sectors such as agriculture, tourism, energy, fishery, mining and rural development. 4 th -5 th February 2016 Dr. Siegmund Müller Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH Country Director, Serbia Mr. Siegmund Müller has more than 30 years of professional experience in the field of development and education. Since 1991 he has been working in numerous senior positions in the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH in Thailand, Madagascar, Belgium, Algeria, and Serbia as well as in GIZ Headquarter in Germany. Prior to his work in GIZ, Mr. Müller had worked in the Central Institute for Higher Education as senior team leader and in the Ministry for Economic Cooperation in Berlin as Director for Education, Social and Cultural Affairs. Currently; he is currently the Country Director of GIZ in Serbia. During his career he has been in charge of development programs in the field of sustainable economic development, good governance, energy and water sector and of EC projects such as TAIEX, which enabled him to gain expertise in strategic planning and project development, portfolio development and acquisition and marketing of sustainable development. Mr. Müller holds a postdoctoral degree with focus on economics of education and socioeconomic development. He studied at the Humboldt University of Berlin and at the University of Leipzig. Through his many short-term and long-term assignments in Africa, in the Middle East, in South-East Asia, South America and Eastern Europe Mr. Müller has gained strong intercultural competencies. Besides German, Mr. Müller speaks English, French, Portuguese, Spanish and Russian.

11 OPENING - EXTRACT FROM SPEECH Mr. Goran Svilanovic PhD Goran Svilanovic took office as the Secretary General of the Regional Cooperation Council on 1 January 2013, and his re-appointment was approved at the summit of the South-East European Cooperation Process (SEECP) Heads of State or Government in Tirana on 26 June 2015 for a second term due to begin in January A Serbian diplomat and politician, he previously served as Co-ordinator of the OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities ( ). In November 2004, he became Chairman of Working Table I (democratization and human rights) of the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe. From 2000 to 2004, Mr Svilanović was the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (renamed to Serbia and Montenegro in 2003). Between 2000 and 2007, he was a Member of the Serbian Parliament. He was also the President of the Civic Alliance of Serbia ( ). With a Ph.D. from the Union University in Belgrade, Masters and undergraduate law degrees from the University of Belgrade, Mr Svilanovic has also studied at the Institute for Human Rights in Strasbourg, the University of Saarland and the European University Center for Peace Studies in Staadtschlaining. Mr Svilanovic has worked with a number of organizations and committees, such as the Centre for Antiwar Action ( ), the International Commission on the Balkans ( ) and the Belgrade Centre for Human Rights ( ). Since 2008, Mr Svilanovic has been Assistant Professor of Law at the Union University in Belgrade. Mr. Goran Svilanovic, Regional Cooperation Council, Secretary General It is imperative to enhance our chances of meeting our own targets. We have to concentrate on the fact that extinction of species is forever. We can not afford to wait until the degradation of ecosystems becomes truly irreversible. The link between energy and climate change was a major breakthrough in promoting climate change politically, the link between protecting nature and protecting our climate can make the world realize that conserving biodiversity is not an optional extra.the integration of biodiversity into policy areas in SEE is a challenge and a responsibility and none of us can escape the reality that this task requires funding and swift action. It is important that SEE economies respond by continuing to provide priority to halting the loss of biodiversity in their own development programs and strategies. Politically, key elements of the Strategy such as transport, energy and trade facilitation have secured support from the Prime Ministers of Western Balkan economies and several EU Member States through the Berlin Process launched in August 2014 and the subsequent follow-up by Ministers under the Western Balkan 6 initiative. In this context, RCC is keen to ensure that environment, and therefore biodiversity conservation issues, are addressed effectively.we intend to provide results in institutional connectivity, while thematically focusing on the interlinked areas of transport, energy and environment/climate change. We plan to continue supporting the Regional Working Group on Environment as the only regional political mechanism in the field of environment in SEE. RCC will support this Group to convene the Meeting of Environmental Ministers planned for late March 2016, hopefully resulting in a regional agreement on priorities for action and promote participation of Group members and SEE economies in other relevant regional fora, such as the Danube Strategy and others. RCC will also assist in developing sustainability action plans to enhance local participation in regional infrastructure initiatives and improve prospects for establishing viable economic corridors and support improved resilience to climate change and enhanced sustainable natural resource utilization of selected sections of economic corridors in SEE (planned for ) th -5 th February 2016

12 OPENING Ms. Gabriele Rechbauer presentation Ms. Gabriele Rechbauer, Open Regional Funds for South-East Europe Biodiversity, Sector Fund Manager Ms. Gabriele Rechbauer, GIZ Sector Fund Manager of ORF Biodiversity, since September 2015 based in Sarajevo. Gabriele Rechbauer has her academic background in international economics and policies and concentrated later on economically, socially and environmentally sustainable international trade focusing on natural resource based products. She further worked in her earlier professional life for several editorial companies with a focus on product development, market analysis and market research. Over the past 22 years Gabriele Rechbauer her experience includes working as volunteer for the German Development Service (DED), working for GTZ (the former GIZ) in Germany on MEAs (Multi-Environmental Agreements) including biodiversity, climate change conventions and Montreal Protocol in multiple countries and living and working in West Africa on a bilateral environmental project at governmental level. She spent the last 17 years working for the World Bank in Washington and abroad to develop strategic as well as operational activities, projects and programs to address global environmental issues funded by different sources including GEF particularly in the area of biodiversity, land degradation and climate change adaptation and disaster risk management measures across many African and South-East Asian countries. She has been co-leading a number of publications focusing on environmental governance and economics. She has been taking a major role in the development and implementation support of regional and bilateral multi-donor programs and projects at rural and urban scales. Mrs. Rechbauer s main interest is to mainstream better biodiversity conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity into policies (vertically and horizontally) and to improve local, national and international coordination mechanisms to achieve more sustainable results th -5 th February 2016

13 OPENING Ms. Gabriele Rechbauer presentation 13 4 th -5 th February 2016

14 OPENING Ms. Gabriele Rechbauer presentation 14 4 th -5 th February 2016

15 OPENING Ms. Gabriele Rechbauer presentation 15 4 th -5 th February 2016

16 OPENING Ms. Gabriele Rechbauer presentation 16 4 th -5 th February 2016

17 OPENING Ms. Gabriele Rechbauer presentation 17 4 th -5 th February 2016

18 OPENING Ms. Natasa Djokic Ms. Natasa Djokic, City of Belgrade Secretary for Environmental Protection, Assisting Secretary The City of Belgrade Secretary for Environmental Protection donated to the Open Regional Funds in South-East Europe Biodiversity the autochthone tree species for emblematic start of the project activities. A single tree is a part of ecosystem and thus biodiversity, aiming to symbolically advocate for the objectives and represent the growth and development. The tree is planted in the urban ecosystems, at Vracar green area in Belgrade, Serbia and will be maintained by the City of Belgrade Secretary for Environmental Protection Agency responsible for green areas and urban ecosystems in the city (JKP Beograd-Zelenilo / JKP Belgrade-Green ) th -5 th February 2016

19 Module 1 Context and Panel Discussion (Plenary)

20 MODULE 1 Dr. Laure Ledoux presentation Dr. Laure Ledoux, European Commission, DG Environment B.2. Biodiversity, Deputy Head of the Biodiversity Unit in DG Environment Dr. Laure Ledoux, European Commission, DG Environment B.2. Biodiversity, Deputy Head of the Biodiversity Unit in DG Environment Dr. Laure Ledoux joined the European Commission in 2005 after a 10 year research career in the UK. She has been involved in the development of EU biodiversity policy since 2010, from the adoption of the EU biodiversity strategy to 2020 in 2011, to the mid-term review in October 2015 and its follow-up th -5 th February 2016

21 MODULE 1 Dr. Laure Ledoux presentation 21 4 th -5 th February 2016

22 MODULE 1 Dr. Laure Ledoux presentation 22 4 th -5 th February 2016

23 MODULE 1 Dr. Laure Ledoux presentation 23 4 th -5 th February 2016

24 MODULE 1 Dr. Laure Ledoux presentation 24 4 th -5 th February 2016

25 MODULE 1 Dr. Laure Ledoux presentation 25 4 th -5 th February 2016

26 MODULE 1 Dr. Laure Ledoux presentation 26 4 th -5 th February 2016

27 MODULE 1 Dr. Laure Ledoux presentation 27 4 th -5 th February 2016

28 MODULE 1 Dr. Laure Ledoux presentation 28 4 th -5 th February 2016

29 MODULE 1 Dr. Laure Ledoux presentation 29 4 th -5 th February 2016

30 MODULE 1 Mr. Josef Seitz presentation Mr. Josef Seitz, Global 21, France, Director Mr. Josef Seitz, Global21 Consulting, France, Director Josef Seitz works since 1990 as international expert in the fields of environment, climate change, private sector and sustainable development. From 1996 to 2004, he worked for GIZ as advisor and program manager for ministries and private sector organizations. In 2006, Josef founded Global21 Consulting, based nearby Toulouse in France. He provides advisory services for internationally operating organisations and carries out high-level interventions worldwide in: Environmental policy and green economy International co-operation and development policy Sustainable economic development Private sector co-operation Biodiversity policy Energy policy and energy efficiency Strategic consulting Climate change adaptation Climate change mitigation and low carbon development Climate finance (Green Climate Fund) Waste management Sustainable business management (CSR, Global Compact, strategies) Evaluation and monitoring In 2014, Josef was team leader of the appraisal mission in charge of preparing the ORF Biodiversity th -5 th February 2016

31 MODULE 1 Mr. Josef Seitz presentation 31 4 th -5 th February 2016

32 MODULE 1 Mr. Josef Seitz presentation 32 4 th -5 th February 2016

33 MODULE 1 Mr. Josef Seitz presentation 33 4 th -5 th February 2016

34 MODULE 1 Mr. Josef Seitz presentation 34 4 th -5 th February 2016

35 MODULE 1 Mr. Josef Seitz presentation 35 4 th -5 th February 2016

36 MODULE 1 A Long Term Strategic Vision for the Western Balkans Mediterranean Basin Biodiversity Hotspot (CEPF 2016) You can download a movie thru this link th -5 th February 2016

37 MODULE 1 - Summary of panel discussion GUIDING QUESTIONS TO THE PANELISTS: What have been the main achievements over the past 3 years regarding EU environmental acquis and implementation of the EU Biodiversity Strategy 2020/UN CBD commitments and what contributed to the success? What have been the main challenges? What are the lessons learnt and priorities for your Ministry for the next 3 years? Where do you see potentials for a major contribution of regional cooperation to achieve implementation of the EU Biodiversity Strategy 2020/UN CBD commitments? 37 4 th -5 th February 2016

38 MODULE 1 - Summary of panel discussion INTERVENTIONS FROM THE PANELISTS: Slađan Nikolčević, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning, Pristina I thank GIZ for the excellent organization of the conference. Our region as well as Kosovo is exceptionally rich in biodiversity with large number of diverse ecosystems and endemic species. Our biodiversity is not just restricted to our territory since conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity requires not only an integrated but also a transboundary approach. The state of biodiversity in Kosovo is greatly endangered mainly due to other development priorities, lack of knowledge about the values of biodiversity and ecosystem services and limited financial capacities. In the field of biodiversity conservation, Kosovo has declared 12% of its territory as protected areas out of which three are cross-border parks with more than 120,000 ha of surface area bordering with FYR Macedonia, Albania and Montenegro. Our priority is to build the capacity and strengthen the management of protected areas, develop management plans, implement projects for inventory and conservation of biodiversity, its sustainable use and strengthen the awareness on the importance of ecosystem services. As all countries of South-East Europe, Kosovo is preparing to join the European Union, recognizing the importance of progress with the relevant political and legal framework for the preservation of biodiversity. Besides the Law for Nature Protection with by-laws and following the guidelines approved by the Secretariat of the CBD, we have prepared Strategy and Action Plan for Biodiversity ( ) which is a basic document for the nature protection that sets long-term goals for the biodiversity conservation and landscape diversity of protected natural species in accordance with the general, legal, social and cultural development in Kosovo. With the aim of identifying challenges and adequate responses, this document will be revised this year. The implementation of its plan has not been made possible to date due to a lack of funds. From this meeting, we are expecting to work together on projects for biodiversity, assess existing opportunities for regional networking and partnerships as well as to identify possible projects with funding from GIZ th -5 th February 2016

39 MODULE 1 - Summary of panel discussion Ivana Vojinovic, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Sustainable Development and Tourism, Podgorica Dear colleagues, let me congratulate GIZ for the organization of the conference and presentations of the Open Regional Fund Biodiversity project for the region. I think today will be an ideal opportunity for all of us gathered here in Belgrade to exchange information, relevant recent experiences in this field and discuss priorities, which are common to all countries in the region. Speaking about the biodiversity related achievements, that Montenegro reached over the last three years, I would start by dividing the achievements into two fields - the first being the improvement of legislation in the area of nature protection and biodiversity and the second to proper and efficient implementation of our laws and strategic documents. Regarding the improvements in legislation, Montenegro has recently significantly improved its legislative framework due to our progress related to the process of EU integration. During 2015, Montenegro drafted a completely new Law on Nature Protection, which is now fully harmonized with main pillars of nature protection in EU acquis (Birds and Habitats Directives) and all other pieces of legislation of EU acquis. The law was adopted by the government at the end of 2015 and is now in the parliamentary procedures. Undoubtable, a lot of work is in front of us in regards to legislative framework because as we heard during these morning sessions the European Commission has some new pieces of legislation such as invasive alien regulation and we are definitely about to draft some new laws in this area. In the area of implementation, Montenegro ratified CBD in 2006 and then adopted its first National Strategy for biodiversity ( ). This strategy covered and included a total of 54 measures that have been grouped in seven areas to fully correspond to priorities and key challenges in Montenegro in regards to protection of biodiversity. Since this strategy expired in December 2015, the government of Montenegro had done a detailed review of its implementation. The overall assessment is that progress of implementation of this strategy is moderate mainly because of a lack of necessary financial resources. Limited financial resource has been allocated to the proper implementation for the measures that have been listed in the Action Plan. The main area in which Montenegro has been weak in the implementation is the creation of document bases for biodiversity and efficient management of protected areas. But where we have been the most successful is the increase of territory designated as protected areas over the last three years from 9 to almost 13%. Also we strengthen our institutional and legal framework in these areas. Government of Montenegro adopted last week the new National Strategy for biodiversity ( ), which is completely based on main guidelines of COP10 of CBD and Aichi targets, and lessons learned from implementation of the implementation of the first strategy, and completely redefined our strategic overview in this specific area. These are the introductory remarks and I hope that we will have additional time during conference to discuss the main priorities for regional cooperation in the coming period th -5 th February 2016

40 MODULE 1 - Summary of panel discussion Zamir Dedej, General Director, National Agency of Protected Areas, Tirana Thank you very much for giving me this opportunity to participate in the discussion. Let me join the other speakers in thanking GIZ that organized the launching event of this project as well as our colleagues from Serbia. In the last two years, we have been active in nature conservation: few months ago the National Strategy and Action Plan for Biodiversity was adopted as a main political document. In the last period, our surface of protected areas has been achieved about 16.66%, which is good in terms of European Union and its target, which is 17%. We are in process of developing a new Law on Protected Areas and preserving the species while trying to implement some of the action plans for certain species. We are more concentrated on endangered species such as lynx and marine turtle. From the institutional point of view, we have two more main achievements: a State Inspectorate for Forest (we are working law enforcement which is a weak point of society in general in Balkan region) and a newly established Agency for Protected Areas that was created 9 months ago. I hope we will be more active in the future. We have two big achievements in policy: Albania has issued a hunting ban - we are aware that this has not been fully respected but at least we see some improvements of the situation and second today in our Parliament a 10 year logging ban of forest will be discussed which could lead to a completed ban of forest cutting for trade purpose. Concerning the future, our country is very much related to NATURA We have to achieve this network and process of NATURA We also need a lot of capacity to be included in the country and also start implementing some of the management plans. Many times we are criticized by the government because we produce good documents but nobody implement them. It is the time to reduce activities of meetings and development of management plans but to go into the field to actually implement them. That is the aim of the Agency in the future. The regional cooperation is one of the priorities; we have good cooperation with Montenegro, Kosovo, Greece (Prespa Lake) and we need to improve our cooperation with FYR Macedonia. In addition, it is very crucial for transboundary areas that we continue this cooperation for achieving the objectives that each country has. We have to try to change some of our mentalities, which is related to economic development. If we don't protect our environment, we will not able to continue. We want to include some economic mechanisms particularly for local community. If we are not able to increase the participation of local community, we should forget nature protection because these people are living with these resources. We have to identify some areas of cooperation that can be a successful story. We will propose in our working groups some of these areas. We also have to find out in our regional cooperation items of joint activities. We recognize the differences between countries, sometimes political in the region but also we have some common items that would be good to recognize as objectives. This will be very attractive project. And last, but not least stay in connection with local community and institutions th -5 th February 2016

41 MODULE 1 - Summary of panel discussion Nermina Skejović Hurić, Senior for Programs and Projects, Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations of BiH, Sarajevo I would like to thank GIZ for a very well organized meeting and thank Republic of Serbia for hosting the event. With regard to our results, which we achieved during the last three years, I would like to say that BiH made great progress. We finished one project titled Implementation of the Birds and Habitats Directives in BiH which was financed by the Swedish Government, and during two years of implementation we have got the following six results: 1) a draft list of potential NATURA 2000 sites endorsed (which guides us to 18% of protected areas); 2) guidelines for preparation of the NATURA 2000 Management plans; 3) elaboration of management plans for 3 selected NATURA 2000 areas; 4) preparation of information monitoring network for NATURA 2000; 5) preparation of Communication Strategy; and 6) increase of public awareness. This project is now finished so at this moment we need to implement these results and therefore are in need of some financial resources. Second project named Strengthening BiH environmental institutions for using IPA funds was finished in Through this project we prepared a Strategy under Chapter 27 for Environment, and protection of nature is part of this. Now we are waiting for the implementation of this project through which we prepared some EU policies for BiH, and these policies were harmonized with the EU policy programs. Third achievement of BiH is the prepared and revised Strategy and Action Plan for biodiversity ( ), which is in the phase of adoption. BiH prepared the Fifth National Report for CBD and what is the priority for BiH - implementation of the Action Plan. This Strategy for Biodiversity is harmonized with the EU Strategy, especially with goals 3 and 4, which relate to increase in the contribution of agriculture and forestry to biodiversity and ensuring the sustainable use of fisheries. Main challenges for us are implementation of this project, with the biggest needs for BiH being the preparation of detailed inventory of habitats and species at the state level, approximation of EU acquis into legislation of the nature sector, and establishment of synergy with other sectors including strengthening the horizontal and vertical connections. The priority for the region are preparation of transboundary protection assessment, development of Nagoya Protocol mechanism, implementation of standards and previous development of national mechanism for Nagoya Protocol th -5 th February 2016

42 MODULE 1 - Summary of panel discussion Zineta Mujaković, Head of Department for Biological and Landscape Diversity, Federal Ministry of Environment and Tourism, Sarajevo I would also like to thank GIZ and hosting country Serbia for a very nice organized conference. I would like to mention the progress at the legal basis, which was adopted in the past three years in BiH (at the entity levels: RS and FBiH). We brought two Laws of Nature Protection in FBiH (2013) and RS (2014). Both laws are harmonized with the European Directives (Habitats and Birds) with up to 95% and we are very proud. However, the percentage of our protected areas is unfortunately only 2.8% but we are working on the establishment of new protected areas through specific projects that we have signed and that we will implement (GEF projects). We have also brought a lot of implementing regulations - related to habitat conservation, ecological network, strategic assessment and environmental impact assessment. We are still pending on the adoption of a new Law on Environmental Protection in FBiH and a new Law on Fund for environmental protection and energy efficiency. Legislation has been adopted related to invasive species as well. I have to say that we have a few action plans for the prevention of certain invasive species and their spread way of destruction for those that are the most aggressive in BiH ambrosia and another 2-3 species, however we still don't have a list of invasive species. There are Red List on Plants, Animals and Fungi at the entity level (in FBiH the Red List shows the degree of vulnerability while in RS is only the list). We need Red Books of course but we first have to revise existing Red Lists and then develop red books. The priority is the inventory th -5 th February 2016

43 MODULE 1 - Summary of panel discussion Vlatko Trpeski, Head of Nature Department, Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning, Skopje I would like to thank you for the invitation to this event. It is a great opportunity to sit together with all governments and other stakeholders and talk about the priorities in the field of biodiversity protection. According to our work, it is a big challenge to work in the sector of nature. We have a lot of pressure from other sectors at the moment but we are doing the best in finding some synergies with other sectors and cross-cutting issues with biodiversity. In the past, we were focused on development of the National Strategy and Action Plan for Biodiversity, which involves Aichi targets, and EU biodiversity Strategy. Now we are in phase of strategy adoption very soon by the Government. According to the Law on Nature Protection, we are preparing the National Strategy of Nature Protection, which is the main document for us and will be the main guide for us how to protect nature in next 10 years. This year we expect to finish with all strategic documents concerning nature protection and biodiversity in Macedonia. According to the implementation of the European Directives (Birds and Habitats) few days ago we officially started with first NATURA 2000 project in Macedonia, where 7 potential NATURA 2000 sites will be proposed and we will fully transposed both directives to our national legislation and we have one component which is to explain to other stakeholders what Natura 2000 is and what expected results are. I have to mention that our main goal is to work together with other stakeholders including the institutes, academia and specially NGO sector that are already involved in all our projects. I have to mention that we have allocation of funds for IPA 2 ( ) for real field project of nature conservation. Last year with Albania and Greece, we establish a first Nature Trust Fund for Ohrid and Prespa Lakes, MAVA Foundation and KfW with 11 million Euros for conservation in this area. We are very active with cooperation with other international organizations - currently our Ministry is applying to be a member of IUCN and soon we are expecting to be a part of it. Our national parks are already a member of Dinaric Arc Association; we are part of ECRAN project that supports government in implementing EU regulations and our State of Inspectorate is a part of THEMIS network, which is led by the REC. There are a lot of challenges and I would like to mention some of them: ecosystem services are one of them and we would like to know how to implement them into policy system and how to improve the management of protected areas in Macedonia. We are looking forward to have a joint monitoring system for large carnivores (Balkan lynx which is on the Red List critical species). Again, I would like to thank to GIZ for opening this fund; it will be a big challenge for us and I think this is a very good project for the future. Thank you to Serbia for hosting us th -5 th February 2016

44 MODULE 1 - Summary of panel discussion Jelena Dučić, National Focal Point for CBD, Ministry of Agriculture and Environmental Protection, Belgrade I would like to greet you all as a host country at today's conference. In 2014, Republic of Serbia obtained bilateral explanatory screening in Chapter 27 on climate change and the environment. We have also developed a strategic document that shows the basis for further transposition of legislation and possible financial resources for the implementation of the EU Directives. This document also provides an overview of the steps that await us in terms of implementation of the directives and the assessment of financial resources. In terms of legislation, a draft Law on Amendments to the Law on Nature Protection (will be approved tomorrow by the government) and by-laws will be improved in terms of the draft regulation amending the ecological network in Serbia. Through ECRAN project, we worked on capacity building for appliance of EU directives in countries that are the beneficiaries and on an evaluation of the accession to the European Union. We are in phase of revising the Strategy for Biodiversity ( ), which is in line with the global Aichi targets and global strategic plans. It includes assessment of the transposition of the EU biodiversity Strategy and objectives of the CBD, in relation to national targets and indicators. The priority of Serbia is to establish NATURA The challenge for our Ministry and Serbia in general is building the capacity at all levels, the continuation of regional cooperation through existing initiatives and new organizations as well as funding for the implementation of the above-mentioned segments. Thank you very much th -5 th February 2016

45 MODULE 1 - Summary of panel discussion ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS FOR OPEN PANEL DISCUSSION From political results to implementation What are lessons learned and successes from past efforts of regional cooperation for transboundary management of protected areas? How do you compare regional investments to investments in national level protected areas in terms of effectiveness? 45 4 th -5 th February 2016

46 MODULE 1 - Summary of panel discussion Zineta Mujaković, Head of Department for Biological and Landscape Diversity, Federal Ministry of Environment and Tourism, Sarajevo Regarding the first question, my colleagues have already mentioned before several regional projects and these are really good lessons learned. However, in terms of protected areas I will mention what we have done in BiH and in the region. One good example of a regional project is Dinaric Arc Parks which includes our youngest National Park Una. Another regional and very good project related to protected areas and biodiversity conservation is the THEMIS project implemented by Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe. The project aims to prevent environmental crimes and to address illegal logging and deforestation. We have a big problem in BiH to prevent trading/ hunting and illegal uses of protected species, in particular in our Ramsar sites (Hutovo Blato, Livanjsko Polje). Yes, we have established public institutions and protected areas are in accordance with national legislation (Hutovo Blato), but because of lack of money these areas are really in bad shape and a large number of protected species are threatened, specifically the birds. Here, we identified problems linked to market demands in Italy. Additionally, the THEMIS project has managed to link all relevant institutions and decision makers - all stakeholders in the process (prosecution, judiciary, ministries, inspectorate, customs and border police) and increased administrative capacities in the relevant national authorities to tackle environmental crimes and enhance regional dialogue and cooperation in the context of approximation to European Union environmental legislation. Another relevant project is the ECRAN project but my colleagues have already said a lot so I will not repeat. In relation to the second question, although we have a little percentage of designated protected areas in BiH territory, we take care of them we allocate significant resources from government at the entity level annually. We still invest in these protected areas (specifically the national parks since protected areas in accordance with national legislation are divided at the entity level of protection and on the lower levels for instance, in FBiH it is further divided into cantons and lower levels of government). These significant resources account for about 500,000 BAM annually for national parks. Additional investments in protected areas are carried out through different projects funded by donors. Currently, a lot of work is done in National Parks such as Una, Sutjeska and Kozara th -5 th February 2016

47 MODULE 1 - Summary of panel discussion Zamir Dedej, General Director, National Agency of Protected Areas, Tirana I will try to be shorter than my previous speaker, because I think that she gave concrete answers. Through regional projects, we got to know each other in the region especially with people in the area of protected areas and nature conservation in last 2-3 years there has been joining, gathering, discussing. This is the strongest social part of the meetings. This is the lesson what we learned, also high level of stakeholders have met and tried to make some plans which is good. Also I am not taking out the results from Dinaric Arc Parks which has been the biggest regional project we have Dinaric Park Association and Benefit Assessment of Protected Areas (PA-BAT). We also have to remember that several bilateral cooperations have been mentioned by my colleagues from BiH, but should include Skadar Lake supported by IUCN, Ohrid and Prespa Lakes, Alps in Kosovo. In terms of investments, many regional projects mostly deal, in my opinion, with capacity building. Investment from the government is a completely different thing; the government develops structures for them and that is a bit different. Sometimes from the financial point of view, there are some difficulties where funds of the regional project can be spent in one country and I think this project will try to avoid this. Thank you th -5 th February 2016

48 MODULE 1 - Summary of panel discussion Ivana Vojinovic, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Sustainable Development and Tourism, Podgorica I will also try to be as short as possible, because my colleagues have already said a lot regarding the regional cooperation. I would like to start that regional cooperation no doubt has no alternatives in the area of nature conservation and biodiversity protection in the region that is reaching overall diversity of species, habitats and so on. This is important because regional cooperation is achieving to use the financial resources which have to be invested in addition to measures and activities in the field of biodiversity protection. Everybody here in the room can agree that lack of financial resources is one of the main barrier for proper implementation and achievement of goals that each country has put in its strategic documents on biodiversity and regional cooperation definitely expands the scope of data gathered, level of protection of the territory and so on. Now I will not specified every single project that Montenegro had in regional context but definitely I would like to highlight the activity that we had with neighbors and our protected areas we share the Skadar Lake in border with Albania (activities that were carried out were successful), National Park Prokletije proclaimed and designated in Montenegro (in border with Kosovo and Albania) has a high level of potentials when it comes to the regional initiative and I call our neighbors to be more open and ambitious in regional initiatives in this regard. I would conclude by highlighting some of the areas in which Montenegro will focus in the coming period: 1. establishment of NATURA 2000 which is a precondition for EU integration and would like to invite our neighbors to assist and help us in mapping all relevant species, habitats in this very challenged exercise; 2. ongoing activity in Montenegro which focuses on extending the protected territory and 3. strengthening information and documentation bases on biodiversity because I think we don t have in all countries strong documentation bases and without strong documentation bases we can t make proper decisions and can t fully explore the concept of ecosystem services (that has a lot of potentials for regional and transboundary cooperation in terms of exchange of information, strengthening of our internal capacities and exchange of data). I will definitely conclude this by calling all of us gathered here as Secretariat of RCC stated this morning that we will have a ministerial meeting in Podgorica at the end of March/beginning of April where we are supposed to have high-level of commitment in this area conserving the biodiversity and raising the public awareness th -5 th February 2016

49 MODULE 1 - Summary of panel discussion How to mainstream biodiversity What are the roadblocks faced by ministries in charge of the environment to address biodiversity conservation in central budget decision-making processes? How can the ORF biodiversity and others help you to mainstream biodiversity conservation into these (budget) decision-making process? And how can regional cooperation add value to pursue this mainstreaming objective? Are there any ongoing processes that would require ORF biodiversity support? Ivana Vojinovic, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Sustainable Development and Tourism, Podgorica I think that everybody has a common problem in the region how to integrate biodiversity targets in the overall financing planning program. I think every country has struggled with limited budget resources, limited capacities of national budget especially budgets of local self-governments so it is very difficult and very demanding to increase the awareness of representatives in the Ministry of Finance and integrate activities regarding biodiversity conservation into regular budget planning. New Strategy of BD ( ) our Ministry of Sustainable Development and Tourism has discussed and explained the Ministry of Finance how it is important to secure financing for BD for the next period. At the end of the day we had strong arguments and received a positive opinion from the Ministry of Finance which is a positive sign for Montenegro. This is definitely a positive example of integrating biodiversity targets in other sector policies (especially finance). This is a first step, but very much important. In this way, in the coming period Montenegro will be much more successfully prepared in terms of biodiversity conservation. The overall process is very difficult; it is not easy to have strong arguments on your side especially in terms of finances, or other priorities that are of economic development importance th -5 th February 2016

50 MODULE 1 - Summary of panel discussion Zamir Dedej, General Director, National Agency of Protected Areas, Tirana Most of the Ministries in charge of Environment are the least important institutions, and that is nothing new. In most cases, we should take into account economic development (cars, buildings, road infrastructure, restaurants) so if you ask me, we have to change the mentality and we can t change mentality in one day; we have to change the mentality of our politicians they don t see what is so called the corruption. Most of the time we have been betrayed - sustainable development (meaning bring more income but in long term, more sustainable income to community), there are many examples of misunderstandings. For instance, for local community it is an issue of hydropower Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro there are 100 of licenses given to destroy rivers because people think they will get some money and only one person becomes aware of such impact on the environment. How is that possible? One of the items that this project is launching are ecosystem services, monitoring and BD information which are very important for policy making, but we have to give examples to the economic sector we, environmentalists are very weak, we speak how many pelicans I can protect and economic sector speaks how much income we can generated. We have less pelicans, more people employed as well as more arguments. Sometimes we are lucky, because in Albania our prime minister is nature conservationist we need to use that opportunity. How they can reflect BD in financial terms is very difficult. In many times, the budget lines are most of time done by technical people th -5 th February 2016

51 MODULE 1 - Summary of panel discussion Nermina Skejović Hurić, Senior for Programs and Projects, Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations of BiH, Sarajevo First of all, I would like to add something regarding the financing in the region. BiH has got one specific problem - we have stopped with IPA support in 2012 because BiH didn t approve its strategy for EU acquis. Until now, we have been implementing an IPA project which we had in the past, we are part of several regional IPA projects, and we use some support from other donors, such as the support from GEF as the biggest finance mechanism for BD intervention. We really need financial support in our region but the question is what the priority is? We need to use our national priority and common priority in the region. Every country expresses its own priorities and thus we should find common priorities/goals of our own, the ones we all will have benefits from, and gain general/financial support from the Open Regional Funds. Zamir Dedej, General Director, National Agency of Protected Areas, Tirana In terms of concrete proposals, sometimes in Albania we have mechanism of 50:50. If you find that sponsor can contribute 5, you can ask for Government to give 5. If there is a study on ecosystem services and we have a good argument for revenue, for income generation in protected areas like constructed hydropower, forest, water - we can make good policies through legislation that money generated in protected areas can be used for BD protection. This mechanism is already existing and your Funds can operate on these issues th -5 th February 2016

52 MODULE 1 - Summary of panel discussion How to leverage and pool more efficiently funding for biodiversity conservation How can regional cooperation attract more funding? Is it worth thinking about linking biodiversity policy objectives with those of climate change? Zamir Dedej, General Director, National Agency of Protected Areas, Tirana First of all, to not start from the scratch we have some experiences. So if you ask me, how we attract more funds we use existing experiences - the existing funds are mostly related to IUCN and WWF. In terms of managing funds; we have funds, but in many times they are not seen because Government is on one side, civil society is on the other side; corporation is not very good and funds are not properly used. I didn t tell you this, I was surprised at one coordination meeting that around 15 million Euros was there (60% on capacity building). If I add these 15 million Euros on Prespa Lake, how will I use it? Maybe, we have to look at existing experience, existing projects and increase their effectiveness and management. But the second thing, normally when we want to raise funds we have the best approach we wait from the donors to come with money and ask us do you like this or that. Maybe the country needs to have a more proactive approach, we want the money for 1,2,3,4 things and maybe we can add the 5, 6 one that the donor wants, but at least 5 priorities of the country should be applied and done by the country. These priorities might not be the concrete, but general and do not help. Regarding the climate change, the answer is definitely yes and we can t do further. Few days ago, I was near the beach; it was 20 degrees and I could swim; it was January 2 nd, there was a sun; it is definitely climate change. Climate change is part of our life now, I am sure this summer everybody will suffer from the hot conditions. Thank you! Vlatko Trpeski, Head of Nature Department, Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning, Skopje According to the climate change, I would like to mention there was one initiative by UNEP, half a year ago how to protect high mountain ecosystems from climate change and maybe it will be a base for something to research more and address new activities in regard to this issue. I am not sure what the results are from this project, but maybe we can search for these data and continue with the work th -5 th February 2016

53 Module 2 Economic Value of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services

54 MODULE 2 Prof Rudolf de Groot presentation Rudolf de Groot, Associate Professor in Integrated Ecosystem Assessment & Management with the Environmental Systems Analysis Group of Wageningen University, the Netherlands Rudolf de Groot is a Landscape Ecologist by training and has worked for almost 30 years on ecological-economic analysis of impact of land use and climate change on ecosystem services as a tool for sustainable planning and management. De Groot published over 150 scientific papers, including 2 books, and is one of the most cited scientists of Wageningen University. He was involved as Coordinating Lead author in the UN-supported Millennium Ecosystem Assessment ( ) and in the global study on The Economics of Ecosystems & Biodiversity (TEEB ) He is a member of the Editorial Board of several Journals, including Conservation Letters and Regional Environmental Change and Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal on Biodiversity Science, Ecosystem Services and Management and co-founder and Topic Editor of the new Elsevier Journal Ecosystem Services: Science, Policy & Practice He is Special Advisor on Ecosystem Services of the IUCN Commission on Ecosystem Management (CEM), member of the Steering Committee of the UNEP International Resource Panel and Chair of the Ecosystem Services Partnership ( a worldwide network to enhance the science and practical application of ecosystem services assessment th -5 th February 2016

55 MODULE 2 Prof Rudolf de Groot presentation 55 4 th -5 th February 2016

56 MODULE 2 Prof Rudolf de Groot presentation 56 4 th -5 th February 2016

57 MODULE 2 Prof Rudolf de Groot presentation 57 4 th -5 th February 2016

58 MODULE 2 Prof Rudolf de Groot presentation 58 4 th -5 th February 2016

59 MODULE 2 Prof Rudolf de Groot presentation 59 4 th -5 th February 2016

60 MODULE 2 Prof Rudolf de Groot presentation 60 4 th -5 th February 2016

61 MODULE 2 Prof Rudolf de Groot presentation 61 4 th -5 th February 2016

62 MODULE 2 Prof Rudolf de Groot presentation 62 4 th -5 th February 2016

63 MODULE 2 Prof Rudolf de Groot presentation 63 4 th -5 th February 2016

64 MODULE 2 Prof Rudolf de Groot presentation 64 4 th -5 th February 2016

65 MODULE 2 Prof Rudolf de Groot presentation 65 4 th -5 th February 2016

66 MODULE 2 Working groups - Four parallel working groups discussed regional priorities for each ORF BD intervention area 66 4 th -5 th February 2016

67 MODULE 2 Working groups - Presentation of final boards 67 4 th -5 th February 2016

68 MODULE 2 Working groups - Final boards 68 4 th -5 th February 2016

69 3 Module Transboundary Ecosystem Management

70 MODULE 3 Dr. Deni Porej presentation Dr. Deni Porej, Director of Conservation Programmes at WWF Mediterranean Dr Deni Porej supervises and coordinates the planning, development, implementation and monitoring of the WWF Mediterranean conservation program. Currently, WWF Mediterranean has 41 conservation programs staff operating in 15 countries, with an annual operation budget of 5 million EUR. He is a graduate of Belgrade University, with a Ph.D. from The Ohio State University. Prior to joining WWF, Dr Porej worked for The Nature Conservancy, and conducted research on wetlands, snakes, crocodiles and amphibians in Europe, Asia, North and South America, and the Pacific islands. His specific expertise is in conservation planning, protected areas management and wetland restoration. You can download video material from this link th -5 th February 2016

71 MODULE 3 Dr. Deni Porej presentation 71 4 th -5 th February 2016

72 MODULE 3 Dr. Deni Porej presentation 72 4 th -5 th February 2016

73 MODULE 3 Dr. Deni Porej presentation 73 4 th -5 th February 2016

74 MODULE 3 Dr. Deni Porej presentation 74 4 th -5 th February 2016

75 MODULE 3 Dr. Deni Porej presentation 75 4 th -5 th February 2016

76 MODULE 3 Dr. Deni Porej presentation 76 4 th -5 th February 2016

77 MODULE 3 Dr. Deni Porej presentation 77 4 th -5 th February 2016

78 MODULE 3 Dr. Deni Porej presentation 78 4 th -5 th February 2016

79 MODULE 3 Dr. Deni Porej presentation 79 4 th -5 th February 2016

80 MODULE 3 Dr. Deni Porej presentation 80 4 th -5 th February 2016

81 MODULE 3 Working groups final boards 81 4 th -5 th February 2016

82 4 Module Biodiversity Reporting and Information Management

83 MODULE 4 Mr. Boris Erg presentation Mr. Boris Erg, Director of the IUCN Regional Office for Eastern Europe and Central Asia (IUCN ECARO) Boris Erg track record entails more than 15 years in nature conservation, including working for international organizations, state agencies, civil society, and a year-long field work experience. Boris Erg is a member of the Executive Committee of IUCN WCPA Transboundary Conservation Specialist Group and the co-author of several major global publications on transboundary conservation. He is actively involved in World Heritage and the European Green Belt and Dinaric Arc Initiatives. Boris Erg s career is dedicated to the long-term conservation of biodiversity through dialogue and effective management of natural resources th -5 th February 2016

84 MODULE 4 Mr. Boris Erg presentation 84 4 th -5 th February 2016

85 MODULE 4 Mr. Boris Erg presentation 85 4 th -5 th February 2016

86 MODULE 4 Mr. Boris Erg presentation 86 4 th -5 th February 2016

87 MODULE 4 Mr. Boris Erg presentation 87 4 th -5 th February 2016

88 MODULE 4 Mr. Boris Erg presentation 88 4 th -5 th February 2016

89 MODULE 4 Working groups final boards 89 4 th -5 th February 2016

90 Summary of the working group results

91 SUMMARY OF THE LAUNCHING EVENT WORKING GROUP RESULTS Below is the summary of the two days discussions and results achieved by the launching event working groups. The results are presented by each of the three intervention fields. The analyses shows the correspondence with the baseline developed during the fact finding mission conducted in 2014, hence proving the relevance of the ORF BD priorities and of the results achieved at the workshop. Following the panel discussion with governmental representatives of the invited countries on regional and national biodiversity-relevant priorities and keynote speaker introductions to the three ORF Biodiversity (ORF BD) intervention themes held in plenary, the participants were grouped into four parallel working groups to discuss potential regional biodiversity-relevant priorities considering lessons learned and good practices contributing to the ORF BD objective and thematic intervention areas. Every working group was fascilitated by a moderator and an ORF BD team member. The principles of ORF BD support were reminded: (i) support to regional cooperation involving at least three countries (with Croatia as additional mentor country), (ii) duration of activities up to 2 years, (iii) contributing to implementation of EU Biodiversity strategy 2020 and (iv) supporting the EU integration process. The ORF BD funds need to address the three thematic intervention areas by focusing particularly on achieving sustainability thereby working in close cooperation and consultation with other regional initiatives. Funds should be used to reach different stakeholder groups and to support smaller as well as larger interventions while seeking partnerships to strengthen impact and cost-efficiencies th -5 th February 2016

92 SUMMARY OF THE LAUNCHING EVENT WORKING GROUP RESULTS The highly participatory process encouraging lively exchanges between participants of the working groups from the South-East Europe region - decision makers, academia, public sector and civil sector is considered a key benefit of this event. Regional networking and knowledge sharing goes aside with discussion on common regional priorities, using a cost effective approach and more efficient use of limited, human and financial resources by fostering cooperation among related initiatives and stakeholders. The following summary represents a consolidation of the parallel working groups. The elements for sub-projects expressed in working groups will be considered for the development of the ORF BD subproject proposals but are not limiting the scope of SP over the lifetime of the project. The full content of the working groups results is available for support from other partners and donors and can be shared upon request. The working groups proposed and elaborated ideas for each intervention area focusing on 5 principles: 1) Joined Methodologies; 2) Capacity Building; 3) Institutional Aspects; 4) Implementation of technical activities and 5) Awareness raising and communication. It is recommended to combine strategically these four areas while thinking about the operationally most effective and efficient subproject implementation modalities (e.g. phased approach) th -5 th February 2016

93 SUMMARY OF THE LAUNCHING EVENT WORKING GROUP RESULTS Intervention field Economic Value of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services MAPPING AND ASSESSMENT OF ECOSYSTEMS AND THEIR SERVICES (MAES) IN ACCORDANCE WITH EU BIODIVERSITY STRATEGY (NATIONAL / REGIONAL) The Biodiversity Strategy requires that member countries map and assess the state of ecosystems and their services in respective national territory (Action 5). No Western Balkan government (economy) started this process due to the lack of capacities and funding. One of the key issues is the agreement on methodology (e.g. TEEB, IPBES, BISE, etc.) and associated development process and overarching goal (for whom for which purpose in which form data is needed). As a first step, ORF Biodiversity should assist participating beneficiary countries in agreeing on a harmonized methodology following good practices and international standards to be applied, possibly in the whole region. Moreover, a user toolkit for the Western Balkan region regarding assessment of ecosystem services should be either developed or adapted including translation into local languages. It is recommended that assessment should be done in a transparent and stakeholder s participatory approach that will include not only the scientist and state authorities (central and local Governments) but also public entities, civil societies, private sector companies and environmental investigative journalists (media). This approach will not only contribute to the process of strengthening the national capacities in the area of implementation of related initiatives but also ensure that wide participation during the process of planning and decision making will enable smoot process of implementation. The intensive discussions have clearly reflected the needs for a regional network of experts (scientist and proactive practitioners) including the ones from EU member states that could support the process of development and implementation of related initiatives. Yet such an assessment should not be carried out only as an expert study but in form of a process and capacity-building dialogue with decision makers and relevant focus groups / stakeholders responding to specific priorities and needs. In this context, it may be useful to set up a regional partnership with experts including scientists and/or academics from outside the WB region that could accompany the process and build sustainable capacity th -5 th February 2016

94 SUMMARY OF THE LAUNCHING EVENT WORKING GROUP RESULTS Intervention field Economic Value of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services APPLICATION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF ECOSYSTEM SERVICES (ES) The working group participants came up with a number of ideas for the application and implementation of the ecosystem services concept in the WB region: Insuring inclusion of disaster and climate resilient measures in ecosystem management Proofing of legal and institutional aspects in order to minimize harmful impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem, elaborated in context of larger infrastructure projects like transport corridors going through several countries in the region Assessment of economic values of ecosystem services of importance to the agro-food sector Integrating ES into Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Strategic Environmental Impact Assessment (SEA) procedures Working on pilot cases where decisions on ecosystem uses are upcoming (e.g. habitat management for rural livelihoods, water quality and ecotourism ) to make understand what economic value of ES means Working on a pilot case to integrate ES into spatial planning IDEAS FOR ACTIVITIES IN TERMS OF AWARENESS-RISING, UP-SCALING AND DISSEMINATION SET UP A REGIONAL PROGRAM FOR CAPACITY-BUILDING AND AWARENESS-RAISING This idea is proposed on the grounds that economic value of biodiversity and ecosystem services is rather new for all actors in the target countries for decision-makers, civil society, private sector and even academia. All participants stressed the need for immediate education on the topic and for knowledge transfer and sharing at regional scale. A long-term option for capacity building could be developing an academic program (MA, life-long learning module, or similar) or enhancing existing curricula on this topic based on cooperation and exchanges among universities and research institutes including outside the region. This option would contribute to the creation of the science-policy interface, i.e. the better use of scientific work (research) for policy-making th -5 th February 2016

95 SUMMARY OF THE LAUNCHING EVENT WORKING GROUP RESULTS Intervention field Economic Value of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services DRAFT A STRATEGY TO APPROACH AND CONNECT WITH THE NATIONAL DECISION-MAKING PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS (MINISTRY IN CHARGE OF ENVIRONMENT TOGETHER WITH MINISTRIES IN CHARGE OF SECTORS SUCH AS FINANCE, ECONOMY, REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT, SPATIAL PLANNING) IN ORDER TO MOVE TOWARDS BUDGETING REFORM RESULTS Decision-makers clearly lack the attention regarding the issue of biodiversity and ecosystem values and associated economic benefits and it is difficult to find concrete ideas and appropriate solutions and to communicate them accordingly. One important aspect is to establish a direct dialogue with national key institutions not directly in charge of biodiversity and ecosystem services (the latter being usually the Ministries in charge of Environment, Forestry, Water, Agriculture, ) such as Ministries in charge of Finance, Economy and Planning to raise awareness about the economic value of biodiversity and ES and to build a dialogue basis for having a role in programming funds and planning budget. Such effort needs to be coupled with raising awareness at all levels including local level administration and the general public (civil society and private sector). Today, the use of innovative digital and social-media marketing campaigns can reduce costs of awareness raising and support knowledge transfer. Synergies with existing international knowledge hubs and broader programming and reform initiatives can be pursued (e.g. ES Partnership Initiative, IPA programming, economic sector reforms, etc.). ESTABLISH A COMMON UNDERSTANDING FOR ECOSYSTEM SERVICES IN THE REGION Participants proposed to organise seminars and meetings for local and national stakeholders, business, academia, media, tourism operators, etc. in order to raise common understanding for ESS in the region. They further suggested to develop a toolkit for understanding and using the ESAV methodology, and requested support for research and work on some specific pilot cases in the region th -5 th February 2016

96 SUMMARY OF THE LAUNCHING EVENT WORKING GROUP RESULTS Intervention field Economic Value of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services ADDITIONAL DISCUSSION RESULTS FOR THE INTERVENTION FIELD: Issues to take into consideration The link between EIA and the economic value of biodiversity should not be neglected. As a vast portion of private-owned land remains unregulated, it is necessary to work on introduction of state regulatory mechanisms for private-owned resources. The determination of economic value of biodiversity and ecosystem services is likely to change the power shares over resources. Therefore, it will be important to keep the 'power analysis' in mind. Some participants found that a special focus should be more on the market values of ecosystems (which can be addressed monetary) than the non-market values, as those would be more persuasive as argument in public. General population, especially the opinion leaders, lives mostly in urban areas and clearly are not significantly aware of ecosystem values surrounding them in their everyday life. Therefore, it is necessary to focus also on the market failures occurring outside of protected areas and also outside of natural environment, and to take the debate into urban areas. Private sector should also be involved. Use NALAS knowledge management system for informing local stakeholders on the approach, identification of pilot cases, potential future scaling up of ecosystem services approach at local authority level. Target groups for awareness rising: Awareness rising activities should be addressed to: Government and relevant public and semi-public agencies such as Agencies for Environment Protection, Agencies for Investments, National Tourism Boards Cross-border/Transnational structures (e.g. Dinaric Arc Park Association, SWG, NALAS, REC ) Local authorities Local communities Civil society organisations (and they could play also a role as service provider for awareness rising) Investors, in particular to improve Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) and PPP initiatives, such as DMO -Destination Management Organisations, etc. Existing fora and regional networks and groups (Themis, REWG, Conservation Planning, ) 96 4 th -5 th February 2016

97 SUMMARY OF THE LAUNCHING EVENT WORKING GROUP RESULTS Intervention field Economic Value of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services Existing regional references Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) approach of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region (EUSDR) Emerton, L. (2013). Montenegro: The economic value of biodiversity and ecosystem services. UNDP/GEF Emerton, L. (2011). Montenegro: The economic value of protected areas in Montenegro, UNDP/GEF Incorporation of the economic value of biodiversity in the river basin management concept Agriculture Policy Forum run by SWG Laurent Mesbah (2008). Bosnia-Herzegovina. Ecosystem Services for Sustainable Development A future for Bosnia-Herzegovina and the Balkans. Emerton, L (2009). FYR Macedonia: Protected Areas in FYR Macedonia: options for financing Emerton, L (2009). FYR Macedonia: Economic Valuation of Protected Areas and Payment for Environmental Services, options for the country Emerton, L (2010). FYR Macedonia: Protected Areas in FYR Macedonia: options for financing Links to other ORF Biodiversity intervention fields There are direct links to (i) the intervention field «Transboundary ecosystem management», in particular regarding: Application of ES in pilot areas - protected areas Capacity development and awareness rising of local authorities Local business development in pilot areas (ii) the intervention field «Biodiversity monitoring and information management», in particular regarding: The necessity to dispose of reliable and accessible data for determining economic values Ensure political / policy / institutional support for the new systems at the very beginning 97 4 th -5 th February 2016

98 SUMMARY OF THE LAUNCHING EVENT WORKING GROUP RESULTS Intervention Field Transboundary Ecosystem Management The workshop participants developed many ideas regarding activities in the field of Transboundary Ecosystem Management. This is certainly due to the fact that (i) this intervention field offers the opportunity to set up concrete measures with direct impact at local level, (ii) that it is a classical intervention area related to biodiversity conservation, and (iii) that a number of efforts have been carried out in the region. The proposed activities should be in most cases combined into one subproject proposal. A number of activities and contributions were proposed addressing the need of developing, agreeing, disseminating and using specific regional methodologies for transboundary management: Establish a pool of experts for continuous exchange and sustainable back up at regional level Support the use of transboundary cooperation as a platform for discussion on methodology Develop joint transboundary / regional management plans (e.g. portions of Dinaric Arc Park) including for identified regional Natura 2000 sites including mapping Support joint monitoring of species, focus on defining and agreement on joint methodology Develop capacities on financing mechanisms and fundraising at local, national, regional level o External funds (e.g. IPA, etc.) o Economic instruments (e.g. entrance fees, etc.) o Establishment of regional trust funds Develop and promote transboundary sustainable tourism concepts o Support local government initiatives including woman and young entrepreneurs to initiate economic activities in rural areas on sustainable tourism and within cross-border areas and ecosystems (including agro-eco tourism, cultural and natural heritage tourism, hiking, biking/outdoor activities, etc.) o Develop non-consumptive tourism products such as bird watching tours including training for guides, marketing measures etc. Develop sustainable agricultural practices o Joint branding of organic and certified sustainable agricultural products and standards for harvesting (cheese, honey, blueberries, etc.) o Develop roadmap to support more sustainable farming systems and innovative agricultural governance institutions (e.g. prototype farms) 98 4 th -5 th February 2016

99 SUMMARY OF THE LAUNCHING EVENT WORKING GROUP RESULTS Intervention Field Transboundary Ecosystem Management 99 Develop guidelines and control mechanism for sustainable collection and processing of medicinal herbs following defined standards Develop education programmes o Eco-education and awareness raising programme targeting children, women and youth in urban and rural areas o Developing different educational tools for decision-makers and entrepreneurs including international investors engaged in infrastructure investments in protected area (e.g. hydropower, tourism, agriculture) o Developing toolkits for biodiversity-relevant NGOs for advocacy and lobbying Strengthening capacity at various levels (local, national, border, regional) for combating illegal activities such as hunting, fishing, timber extraction in protected areas including creation of a multistakeholder coordination team for law enforcement, monitoring of illegal cross-border trade especially of timber and endangered species (e.g. CITES convention compliance) Supporting transboundary integrated management within appropriate regions (e.g. Montenegro, Kosovo and Albania or Macedonia, Kosovo and Albania) to face joint challenges like spatial planning, waste management, infrastructure projects in protected areas (see point 4 below). 4 th -5 th February 2016 Species approach The selection of flora and fauna flagship species for transboundary management (monitoring, conservation, information, reporting) activities were proposed especially for: Large carnivores (Balkan lynx, brown bear, ) Bats in high mountains (BiH, AL, MK, SER) Birds Butterflies Gentiana lutea (great yellow gentian) Habitats approach According to the working group results, the following habitats should be considered for transboundary activities: Karst habitats (very specific for Western Balkans, located in different WB countries, potential for eco-tourism) Pine forest habitats in MNE, BiH, AL Management of marine protected areas, Adriatic sea, management of coastal area across the countries on the northern Adriatic coast (but due to the complexity not a focus of the ORF BD) Highland grasslands Treeline eco-zones Identification of High Nature Value Forest + harmonization of forest management Ulcinj Salina, an Important Bird Area (IBA) on the Adriatic flyway in Montenegro

100 SUMMARY OF THE LAUNCHING EVENT WORKING GROUP RESULTS Intervention Field Transboundary Ecosystem Management Geographical approach The workshop participants selected specific regional ecosystem zones as potential intervention areas: Prokletije (MNE, AL, RKS) Šara region (AL, RKS, MK) Durmitor - Sutjeska (BiH, MNE) Orjen (MNE, BiH, CRO) Drina Tara (SER, MNE, BiH) Marovo Park (MK, AL, RKS): in particular for carnivores Buna/Bojana River Delta (AL, MNE) Via Dinarica a regional grass-root hiking tourism project funded currently by UNDP and USAID and focussing on BiH but spanning over the Dinaric Alps with great potential to have positive impact on the regions ecosystems as well as on rural population livelihoods and revenues Threats approach Ecosystems in the Western Balkans face common threats which may be used for activities in transboundary cooperation: Fires - to organise regional educational WS for PAs management how to deal with forest fires, development of forest fire policies in protected areas, development of fire monitoring data base and system, etc.) River and water resource pollution to support e.g. waste management practices in management plans for protected areas (particularly in Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia) Hydropower to better control and manage large number of smallscale hydropower investments through adequate spatial planning, ESAV, SEA and access to information and planning decisions Climate change to support modelling for PA management decisions to reduce impact on habitats and species Fishing, hunting to ensure compliance with legislation through awareness raising and better enforcement Infrastructure development to strengthen compliance with legislation (EIA, SEA) th -5 th February 2016

101 SUMMARY OF THE LAUNCHING EVENT WORKING GROUP RESULTS Intervention Field Transboundary Ecosystem Management ADDITIONAL DISCUSSION RESULTS FOR THE INTERVENTION FIELD: Existing references mentioned Natura 2000 rules for harmonization regarding o Data collection o Investigation on species Interpretation Manual of EU Habitats (EUR 28) from EC/DG ENV (2013) Interpretation manual of habitats of Serbia done for the Emerald Network IUCN regional guidelines for transboundary conservation (Initiating effective transboundary conservation A practitioner s guideline based on the experience from the Dinaric Arc) (2012) Good experiences and lessons from Themis Network and Lake Prespa management Via Dinarica as an ongoing regional hiking project with potential for local business development activities Peaks of the Balkans trail promotes transboundary hiking through Albania, Kosovo and Montenegro Best practice of Una National Park (BiH) and Plitvice (CRO) regarding multi-stakeholder dialogue platform Best practices from E-DNA Proteus project (BiH, MNE) Existing platforms for cooperation in mountainous ecosystems (e.g. ENVSEC, Green Belt, Dinaric Arc Association) EU Strategy for the Danube Region (EUSDR) and the EUSAIR EU Strategy for the Adriatic Ionian Region macro-economic strategies addresses several countries and can be used as a common framework IUCN transboundary conservation specialist group NALAS existing structures on (i) sustainable tourism, (ii) urban planning, (iii) solid waste and water management, (iv) NALAS network on gender and youth th -5 th February 2016

102 SUMMARY OF THE LAUNCHING EVENT WORKING GROUP RESULTS Intervention field Biodiversity Reporting and Information Management The working groups findings from the parallel groups for the intervention field Biodiversity Reporting and Information Management concluded in homogenous proposals for activities. There was a common understanding that one ultimate goal should be the establishment of Regional Biodiversity Monitoring and Information Network. As a long-term process that requires other regional cooperation mechanisms related to institutions and financing, this goal is considered as beyond the scope of the current phase of the ORF BD project. The assessment of the institutional and financial sustainability of any proposed monitoring and information system should be a condition for support. To achieve this objective, it is necessary to initiate a process divided into several steps: Step 1: Assessment of the needs and elements of the establishment of a regional network / system Step 2: Assessment of status quo of current national and regional data collection practices (content and process) and requirements as well as capacities (gap analysis) Step 3: Development of harmonized methodologies for targeted data collection and management focusing on key species and/or habitats (could be split into sub-regional needs) Step 4: Support for capacity-building and strengthening for actors and users of the network Step 5: Implementation of data collection, analysis and reporting as well as dissemination th -5 th February 2016

103 SUMMARY OF THE LAUNCHING EVENT WORKING GROUP RESULTS Intervention field Biodiversity Reporting and Information Management STEP 1: ASSESSMENT OF THE NEEDS AND BENEFITS OF A REGIONAL NETWORK-FORUM First the needs and benefits for a regional support network or forum, which may be a group of experts from governments, academia, NGOs, freelance, etc. to work on approaches and methodologies for biodiversity and ES data management should be reviewed. Stakeholders should also include experts from other sectors (e.g. agriculture, finance, economic development, tourism, education, science, trade). The assessment should result in identification of initial members to be included, definition of a clear mandate and operational modalities. Partner organisations and projects active in the region should be consulted to avoid setting up additional new and unsustainable structures. STEP 2: ASSESSMENT OF STATUS QUO In a next step, it is recommended to carry out a comparative analysis of existing information networks / systems in the Western Balkans, in particular: Establish an inventory of what kind of data exist in the region, how it is collected, used and for what and how the data collection methodology is in line with EU standards and international standards (PA category, red list, red books,...) Clarify the flow of data (where data is generated, who collects, who updates, who analyses, who maintains) Identify legislative bottlenecks and propose adjustments Review existing international efforts and requirements to harmonize reporting on CBD using EU and other standards and to prioritize data needs th -5 th February 2016

104 SUMMARY OF THE LAUNCHING EVENT WORKING GROUP RESULTS Intervention field Biodiversity Reporting and Information Management STEP 3: DEVELOP HARMONIZED METHODOLOGIES FOR TARGETED DATA COLLECTION AND MANAGEMENT The development of standardised and harmonized methodologies for data collection and management is a fundamental step towards a Regional Information Network for better transboundary management of biodiversity and ecosystems. The following activities were proposed: Develop on regional priorities for data collection needs (e.g. invasive species, species of economic value such as medicinal plants or tea, endemic vulnerable species). Develop and agree on a methodology defining a minimum of data to be collected for a specific agreed purpose by participating countries Strengthen policy level, e.g. by developing by-laws regulating monitoring procedures Use standard data form (Natura 2000 template, EEA templates, BISE, EUNIS, etc.) Harmonize habitat type classification for regional monitoring Develop and/or harmonize protocols for regional data sharing and processing References: Open access biodiversity data portal in Serbia, Biodiversity monitoring relevant tools by international organisations (such as UNEP, UNDP, BISE, WB/WWF METT, ) CBD Clearinghouse mechanism ECRAN reports STEP 4: CAPACITY BUILDING It is necessary to develop capacities for stakeholders at all levels and structures (public and private sector) dealing with biodiversity and ecosystem services to recognize the data gaps and participate in further development of tools and instrument including learning how to set-up and use data management systems for differing purposes (e.g. spatial planning, biodiversity monitoring and management, economic valuation of ES, EIA content and process, participation in decisionmaking process for investments). At local level, capacity building for data collection, data analysis, data integration and data uses should focus on rangers, volunteers, private sector actors in tourism, local clubs and hunting organizations by involving universities and applying a learning-by-doing concept th -5 th February 2016

105 SUMMARY OF THE LAUNCHING EVENT WORKING GROUP RESULTS Intervention field Biodiversity Reporting and Information Management STEP 5: IMPLEMENTATION For the set-up of a Regional Biodiversity Monitoring and Information Network or a related regional BD information sub-project the following activities could be considered depending the institutional and financial sustainability of the specific situation: Review and propose improvements of adapted technologies for data collection and processing as well as sharing (Hardware and software) in targeted governmental departments Improve or establish the necessary infrastructure (hard and software) related to data collection, assessment and validation (unlikely to be possible at regional level at this stage due to time and funding constraints) Make data available to public see example in Serbia (e.g. by uploading on cloud systems or web-based platforms to ensure public access but also as backup system) Promote data sharing at regional level (e.g. through regional (thematic) conferences or meetings to improve biodiversity conservation management decisions at national and site-level Use data and link to actual management plan development and implementation purposes General remarks for the intervention field: As it is not possible to collect / put in order all kinds of data potentially needed, it is necessary to be selective and choose the types of data that will most serve the purpose considering priorities, cost-benefit analysis and regional synergies. For example, draft the list of priority BD indicators and establish systems to collect data for these indicators in line with existing national/regional priorities (e.g. priority habitats or flagship species of regional/global importance (red list) Selection of data needs to be done on the basis of clear and transparent criteria including cost-efficiency and regional priorities. Quality of data sources must be checked, especially before publishing Data should be managed by reliable institutions that actually share and up-date information (potentially universities) not necessarily by public institutions which reportedly have performed weakly in this area. There is a big risk regarding the sustainability of regional data management systems and an investment in institutional infrastructure needs to be carefully assessed (cost-benefit analysis, human resource availability and capacity). Ownership over data is a common problem and should be addressed at the early start by a clear political and institutional support for a new regional network. Regional benchmarking on the state of BD on local level in SEE could be carried out in the frame of NALAS decentralization observatory Another alternative for decreasing the scope of data management work would be to conduct a broader assessment for a selected habitat or type of data and then to continue collected targeted smaller number of data types on regular basis (ref. Water Framework Directive) th -5 th February 2016

106 WRAP-UP Mr. Srdjan Susic Mr Srdjan Susic has 18 years of progressive international experience in delivering results in policy formulation and development, public administration reform, institutional change and strategic planning. His professional expertize extends to mainstreaming issues of nature conservation, sustainable development and environmental protection into public policy and strategies. Mr. Susic is experienced in institutional and capacity strengthening, evidencebased policymaking, stakeholder engagement, advocacy and communications for supporting national administrations for increased efficiency and responsiveness to the needs of all groups of their citizens. Srdjan holds a Master s degree in public policy from the London School of Economics and Political Science and currently serves as the Senior Expert for Sustainable Growth at the Regional Cooperation Council in Sarajevo. Srdjan has a rich professional experience from multilateral institutions active in the Western Balkans, MENA and Turkey with a proven track record of engaging in and coordinating policy dialogues at multiple levels of governance. Srdjan is married and has two young children and has a keen interest in gastronomy. Mr Srdjan Susic, Regional Cooperation Council, Senior Expert for Sustainable Growth Mr. Susic offered two sets of concluding remarks that focused on process-related issues and those of a more conceptual nature. Mr. Susic noted that the planning process proposed by the meeting participants follows the usual action planning cycle of assessing the needs and relevant stakeholders, defining potential gaps, planning for interventions/actions and ensuring broad public participation. Although a valid approach to programming, Mr. Susic pointed out that it would be worth considering exercising pragmatic and resource-efficient screening and scoping of existing processes and information available. The latter would be intended to avoid potential overlapping and save valuable resources. A good example in this regard, would be the approach to addressing the needs for improved biodiversity information management systems. Conventionally, the steps to be take in this regard would entail assessing the existing national information systems, identifying the gaps in methodology and data, proposing measures to improve these systems and finally integrating them into a certain regional information platform. An alternative approach would focus not on setting up a regional meta system, but rather performing conformity checks focusing on standardized criteria for information collection and systems of data verification that would ensure coherence among national system units. In turn, such a harmonized system would become regional in its own right without creating additional regional system entities.. Mr. Susic also provided conceptual concluding remarks related to several issues of relevance. It would be crucial to use the existing and functioning structures and processes, rather than setting up new ones, as the SEE regional has witnessed a number of initiatives that could have improved their efficiency in the past. Furthermore, as the resources under GIZ ORF Biodiversity and other ongoing nature conservation activities are limited and scarce in SEE, it would be worth considering linking GIZ ORG Biodiversity sub-projects to higher-tier processes, such as the Berlin 2014 process that would ensure large-scale investments in SEE until A telling example of the letter would be adding the nature conservation layer on the infrastructural and economic corridors that will be developed in SEE. Mr. Susic continued to conclude that no regional large-scale processes of drafting strategies are currently needed in SEE, as the existing documents and commitments of SEE economies ensure sufficient political maneuvering space for actions to be taken in this context, while stressing the need to locally embed all potential actions to be carried out in the future th -5 th February 2016

107 WRAP-UP Ms. Gabriele Rechbauer Ms. Gabriele Rechbauer, Open Regional Funds for South-East Europe Biodiversity, Sector Fund Manager Mrs. Gabriele Rechbauer thanked all participants for the excellent spirit, cooperation and participation during these two days. She stressed that a launching event report will be issued and distributed to all participants including a consolidated summary of the working group ideas for ORF BD sub-projects. She emphasized that the ORF BD team will focus now on reviewing these ideas in order to develop eligible sub-projects in the limits of funds available and that at least one sub-project per intervention area is expected to be submitted to the German Ministry in the next months. Mrs. Rechbauer highlighted that the event demonstrated the high interest and great need to strengthen further regional exchanges and collaborations related to biodiversity conservation and ecosystem services in the future. As a response the ORF BD remains open to support follow-up activities including future regional meetings on specific thematic areas ideally in partnership with other regional or international partners. She underlined that the two-days showed the need to enhance a regional network of academia and individuals serving as sustainable reference for regional and national activities and initiatives and indicated that the ORF BD will investigate modalities of support. Mrs. Rechbauer explained that ORF BD country teams will continue a close dialogue with the stakeholders and stay fully available for any follow-up discussion. The high-level Meeting of the Environment Ministers on March 31 to April 1 as the third meeting of the Regional Environment Working Group (REWG) in support of the SEE Strategy 2020 in Podgorica is the next opportunity to continue the political dialogue on the issues addressed during the workshop. She concluded by thanking her ORF BD team members, the moderators and translators for the excellent work delivered. Mrs. Rechbauer promised that the ORF BD team is fully committed to work in partnership to the fulfilment of the project objectives and regional needs th -5 th February 2016

108 EVALUATION th -5 th February 2016

109 EVALUATION th -5 th February 2016

110 110 4 th -5 th February 2016

111 Assessment of Biodiversity Framework in the Western Balkan Region th -5 th February 2016

112 Assessment of Biodiversity Framework in the Western Balkan Region th -5 th February 2016

113 LIST OF PARTICIPANTS - Governments Name and Surname Position Institution / organization City Panelists Working Group Contact Telephone Zamir Dedej Head NAPA Tirana P 1 Zamir.Dedej@akzm.gov.al M Gjoke Jaku Deputy Minister Ministry of Agriculture Tirana 2 Gjoke.Jaku@bujqesia.gov.al T ; M Adriana Petri Head of directorate for mnitoring Management and NAPA Tirana 3 adriana.petri@akzm.gov.al M Project-NAPA Zineta Mujakovic Assistant Minister Federal Ministry of Environment and Tourism Sarajevo P 4 zineta.mujakovic@fmoit.gov.ba ; Željka Stojičić Senior Expert Associate for Nature Protection Ministry of Spatial Planning, Civil Engineering Construction and Ecology of RS Banja Luka 2 z.stojicic@mgr.vladars.net T F Nermina Skejović - Senior Advisor for Programmes and Projects Ministry of Foreign Trade and Ecnomic Relations of BiH Sarajevo 3 nermina.skejovichuric@mvteo.gov.ba Huric Sladjan Nikolcevic Deputy Minister Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planing Pristina P 3 sladjan.nikolcevic@rks-gov.net Agim Qehaja Political Advisor Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planing Pristina 4 agim.qehaja@rks-gov.net Tahir Ahmeti Director of Forestry Department Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planing Pristina 1 tahir.ahmeti@rks-gov.net Ivana Vojinovic Deputy Minister Ministry of Sustainable Development and Tourism Podgorica P 2 ivana.vojinovic@mrt.gov.me T F Vlatko Trpeski Head of nature Department Ministry for environment and phisical planning Skopje P 1 trpeski@yahoo.com T +389(0) F +389(2) M +389(0) Darko Blinkov Head of State Environmental Inspectorate Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning Skopje 2 d.blinkov@moepp.gov.mk and blinkovd@yahoo.com Jelena Dučić Focal point for CBD Ministry of Agriculture and Environment Belgrade P 2 Jelena.Ducic@eko.minpolj.gov.rs Stana Bozovic State Secretary Ministry of Agriculture and Environment Belgrade 4 Stana.Bozovic@eko.minpolj.gov.rs Vilma Kola Head of finance unit Ministry of finance Tirana 4 vilma.kola@moe.gov.al M Zoran Mrdak Director PU National Parks of MNE Podgorica 3 npcg@nparkovi.me T +382 (0) F +382 (0) Pejo Kirovski State Environmental Inspectorate Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning Skopje 4 p.kirovski@moepp.gov.mk T +389(0) F +389(0) Trajan Vasili Director of Finance Unit, Ministry of Environment Tirana 1 trajan.vasili@moe.gov.al M Blerta Rrumbullaku Expert/Ministry of Economic Development, Tourism, Trade Tirana 4 blerta.rrumbullaku@ekonomia.gov. M and Entrepreneurship al Jasmina Muric Ministry of Agriculture and Environment Belgrade 3 Jasmina.Muric@eko.minpolj.gov.rs Biljana Filipovic Šef Odseka - Odsek za međunarodnu saradnju i održivi razvoj u oblasti životne sredine Ministry of Agriculture and Environment Belgrade 1 Biljana.Filipovic@eko.minpolj.gov.r s Rozana Bineri Biologist expert NEA Tirana 2 rozanabineri@yahoo.com M Jasmina Madzgalj Zamenica gradskog sekretara za zaštitu životne sredine Gradski sekretarijat za zastitu zivotne sredine Belgrade jasmina.madzgalj@beograd.gov.rs Milos Baltic Institute for Nature Conservation of Serbia Belgrade Milos.baltic@d22PS.RS th -5 th February 2016

114 LIST OF PARTICIPANTS - CSOs Name and Surname Position Institution / organization City Working Group Telephone Genti Kromidha Head INCA Tirana 4 gkromidha@yahoo.it M Mirjam Topi Project Manager PPNEA Tirana 3 m.topi@ppnea.org M Diana Mile Head Shtepia e Gjelber Tirana 1 mile.diana2@gmail.com M Natasa Crnkovic Coordinator for Biodiversity and PA Centre for Environment Banja Luka 4 natasa.crnkovic@czzs.org T Nermina Sarajlic Member Ornitological Society Sarajevo 3 nermina_sarajlic@yahoo.com Jasminko Mulaomerovic Director Centre for Karst and Speleology Sarajevo 2 jasminko@centarzakrs.ba Kenan Muftic Director Terra Dinarica Sarajevo 1 kenan@terradinarica.com (+387) Aleksandar Perovic CZIP Belgrade/Podgorica 1 aleksandar.czip@t-com.me (0) , (0) Vuk Ikovic Montenegro Ecological Society Podgorica 4 drustvoekologa@gmail.com M +382 (0) Natasa Kovacevic Green Home Podgorica 2 natasa.kovasevic@greenhome.co.me T +382 (0) F +382 (0) Elvir Burazerovic Director ORCA Belgrade 2 elvir.burazerovic@orca.rs Vladan Scekic Enviornment Improvement Centre Belgrade 1 vladan.scekic@cuzs.org Iskra Maksimović Director Tvrđava Golubački grad d.o.o. Belgrade 4 iskramaksimovic@gmail.com Milan Ruzic Director Bird Protection and Study Society of Serbia Belgrade 3 milruzic@yahoo.com Jeroen Arends Member of ES partnership SEEDEV Belgrade 2 milruzic@yahoo.com Robertina Brajanoska Robertina Brajanoska Macedonian ecological society Skopje 2 brajanoska@mes.org.mk and r.brajanoska@gmal.com Boran Ivanoski NALAS Skopje 3 ivanoski@nalas.eu T +389(0) F +389 (0) M th -5 th February 2016

115 LIST OF PARTICIPANTS - Universities & Research Institutes Name and Surname Position Institution / organization City Working Group Telephone Fatbardh Sallaku Dean Faculty of Environment, Agriculture university Tirana 2 sallaku@albmail.com M Srdjan Todorovic Director Environmetal Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund Banja Luka 1 srdjan.todorovic@ekofondrs.org T RS F Mersudin Avdibegovic Professor Faculty of Forestry Sarajevo 2 mavdibegovic@gmail.com; info@sfsa.unsa.ba T /491 F Adi Habul Senior Associate Environmental Fund of FBiH Sarajevo 3 info@fzofbih.org.ba T F Sead Vojnikovic Head of Department for Forest Ecology Faculty of Forestry Sarajevo 4 svojnikovic@yahoo.com; info@sfsa.unsa.ba T /491 F Tamara Kirin Agency for Environment and Nature Zagreb 1 tamara.kirin@dzzp.hr T Milena Batakovic Environmental Protection Agency of Montenegro Podgorica 1 milena.batakovic@epa.org.me T+382 (0) T+382 (0) Natasa Mirecki Faculty for Biotechnology Podgorica 3 mirecki@t-com.me T ; F Danilo Mrdak Faculty of Sciences and Maths, Department for Biology Podgorica 4 danilomrdak@gmail.com T M +382 (0) Filip Radovic Director SEPA Belgrade 3 filipradovic@sepa.gov.rs Natasa Djokic Secretariat of Environment Protection Belgrade 2 natasa.djokic@beograd.gov.rs Zika Reh Secretary Secretariat of Agriculture and Environmental Protection Frenc Marton Director PE Palić-Ludaš Subotica 4 Tamas Vinko Conservation Expert PE Palić-Ludaš Subotica 3 Subotica 1 zika.reh@subotica.rs Michell Rohmann CIM Subotica 3 michell.rohmann@cimonline.de Aleksandar Cetkovic Faculty of Biology Belgrade 2 acetkov@bio.bg.ac.rs Jelena Beloica Faculty of Forestry Belgrade 1 jelena.beloica@sfb.bg.ac.rs Dejan Miletic "Srbijasume" Serbia Belgrade 4 dejan.miletic@srbijasume.rs Qenan Maxhuni Biodiversity Officer Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planing Pristina 4 Dragan Kovacevic Head of Sector for Research and Valorization of Natural Heritage Institute for Cultural-Historical and Natural Heritage of RS Banja Luka 1 d.kovacevic@kipn.vladars.net T F th -5 th February 2016

116 LIST OF PARTICIPANTS - Keynote speakers Name and Surname Position/field Institution / organization City Working Group Telephone Laure Ledoux Deputy - Head Biodiversity Unit EC/DG Environment Brussells 4 Laure.LEDOUX@ec.europa.eu Dolf de Groot Professor University of Wageningen Wageningen 3 dolf.degroot@wur.nl Stana Bozovic State Secretary Ministry of Agriculture and Environment Belgrade 4 stana.bozovic@eko.minpolj.gov.rs Gabriele Rechbauer Sector Fund Manager ORF BD Sarajevo gabriele.rechbauer@giz.de Goran Svilanovic Secretary General RCC Sarajevo 2 goran.svilanovic@rcc.int Siegmund Mueller Country Director GIZ Belgrade n/a Josef Seitz International consultant ORF BD Global21 Caujac 2 josef.seitz@global21.eu Deni Porej Director of Conservation WWF Zagreb 3 dporej@wwfmedpo.org Boris Erg Director IUCN Belgrade 1 boris.erg@iucn.org LIST OF PARTICIPANTS International Organisations Name and Surname Position Institution / organization City Working Groups Telephone Goran Svilanovic Secretary General RCC Sarajevo 2 goran.svilanovic@rcc.int Srdjan Susic Senior Expert RCC Sarajevo 1 srdjan.susic@rcc.int m: Deni Porej Director of Conservation WWF Zagreb 3 dporej@wwf.medpo.org T Andrea Štefan Policy and Advocacy Manager WWF Adria Zagreb 2 astefan@wwf.panda.org T Duska Dimovic Director WWF Belgrade 1 serbia@wwfdcp.org Gordana Kozhuharova Regional Director for SEE REC Budapest 2 gkozhuharova@rec.org Boban Ilic Secretary General SWG Skopje 3 boban.ilic@swg-seerural.org Boris Erg Director IUCN Regional Office Belgrade 1 boris.erg@iucn.org Aleksandra Siljic-Tomic National Officer UNEP Belgrade 3 aleksandra.siljictomic@unep.rs Thies Geertz Expert for large carnivores EuroNatur Germany 1 Borut Rubinic DOPPS BirdLife Slovenia Ljubljana 4 borut.rubinic@dopps.si Cecile Monnier exert REC Budapest 4 Jovan Pavlovic Director REC Belgrade 4 jpavlovic@rec.rs Oliver Avramovski IUCN Belgrade oliver.avramovski@iucn.org th -5 th February 2016

117 LIST OF PARTICIPANTS - Moderators Name and Surname Position Institution / organization City Working group Telephone Roland Cela GIZ Tirana 1 roland.cela@giz.de Mr. Josef Seitz International Consultant ORF BD Global21 Caujac 2 josef.seitz@global21.eu Milo Plamenac Belgrade 3 milo.plamenac@gmail.com Snezana Misic Doboj 4 smisic@hotmail.co.uk LIST OF PARTICIPANTS - GIZ Name and Surname Position Institution / organization City Working Groups Contact Telephone Ralf Peveling Project Leader CSBL / CABRA GIZ Tirana 2 ralf.peveling@giz.de M Ana Lena Klassen CSBL GIZ Tirana 1 anna-lena.klassen@giz.de M Hannah Kuegler CABRA GIZ Tirana 4 hannah.kuegler@giz.de M Elena Gavrilova Project Coordinator LEIWW GIZ Skopje 1 elena.gavrilova@giz.de Stephan Heieck Project Leader ACCESS GIZ Belgrade 2 stephan.heieck@giz.de Gabriele Rechbauer Sector Fund Manager ORF BD Sarajevo gabriele.rechbauer@giz.de Azra Velagić - Hajrudinovic Project Manager ORF BD Sarajevo 1 azra.velagic-hajrudinovic@giz.de M Aida Bojic Administrative Manager ORF BD Sarajevo 1 aida.bojic@giz.de M Ermira Kocu Project Manager ORF BD Tirana 3 ermira.kocu@giz.de M Zhaneta Shehi Administrative Officer ORF BD Tirana 4 zhaneta.shehi@giz.de M Kristina Kujundzic Project Manager ORF BD Belgrade 2 kristina.kujundzic@giz.de Jelena Peruničić Country Coordinator ORF BD Podgorica 4 jelena.perunicic@giz.de T +382 (0) F +382 (0) Maja Sobota Country Coordinator ORF BD Zagreb 3 maja-ivana.sobota@giz.de T M Petra Rajsek Administrative Officer ORF BD Zagreb 3 petra-kristina.rajsek@giz.de T F M Violeta Rakocevic Financial Officer ORFBD Podgorica 4 violeta.rakocevic@giz.de T M Diana Soljan-Tuponja Administrative / M&E Officer ORF BD Podgorica 3 diana.soljan-tuponja@giz.de T M Milena Peralovic Administrative Officer ORF BD Belgrade 2 milena.peralovic@giz.de Siegmund Mueller Country Director GIZ Serbia Belgrade siegmund.mueller@giz.de Samir Memedov Country Coordinator ORF BD Skopje 2 samir.memedov@giz.de th -5 th February 2016

118 FACT SHEET - Open Regional Funds for South-East Europe Biodiversity th -5 th February 2016

119 ROLL-UP - Open Regional Funds for South-East Europe Biodiversity th -5 th February 2016

120 POSTERS - Open Regional Funds for South-East Europe Biodiversity th -5 th February 2016

121 POSTERS - Open Regional Funds for South-East Europe Biodiversity th -5 th February 2016

122 Media advisory ORF BD Belgrade 28 Jan 2016 Overview - press clipping ORF BD Belgrade 4-5 February th -5 th February 2016

123 Press Release ENG ORF BD 4th Feb 2016 Press Release ENG ORF BD 8th February th -5 th February 2016