In 2012, at the request of the Albanian Prespa National Park the Society for the Protection of Prespa (SPP) carried out an assessment of the appropriate wetland vegetation and habitat management by experimental reed harvest, aiming at the conservation of the reedbeds of Lesser Prespa Lake in Albania for the benefit of biodiversity as well as the local community. The assessment also considered the advanced techniques of briquetting and pelleting as a means to utilise the harvested reed and benefit local householders, as well as provide sustainable funding for the reedbed management.
Three years later, following the application of recommended management, the SPP was then subsequently asked to carry out an evaluation of the results of the wetland vegetation management, with the above aims in mind. The SPP’s support to the Prespa National Park in Albania, an example of bilateral transboundary co-operation for Prespa, shared long-term experience in both wetland vegetation management, and on how possible uses of management by-products can benefit local societies, through the use of cut reeds as biomass for energy supply purposes.
2012 - 2015
Government of Albania