Waters / Related projects

The Society for the Protection of Prespa was established in 1991 by two visionaries, Dr Luc Hoffman and Thymios Papayannis, who wanted to create an organisation that would work collaboratively to protect Prespa's remarkable nature and culture, through scientific principles and dialogue, ensuring that all those who strived for the conservation of this incredible and biodiverse corner of SE Europe spoke with a single and effective voice. Many partners and donors...

The protection and preservation of the aquatic habitats of Lesser Prespa Lake and Great Prespa Lake require, among other things, the timely assessment of the possible degradation of their water quality and the detection of threats related to it. A preliminary study, the ‘Quick assessment of water and sediment quality in the Prespa Lakes’, which was conducted in 2012 in the Greek part of Prespa, confirmed that one of the...

The principal aim of this project was to improve the conservation status of the Dalmatian pelican and the pygmy cormorant, but the activities also directly benefited at least 18 other species covered by the Birds Directive. The main actions included the reconstruction of a sluicegate that channels water from Lesser Prespa Lake (Mikri Prespa) into Great Prespa Lake (Megali Prespa), in order to improve water-level management of the former; the...

In the mid-1970s, the River Devoll (Deavolis in ancient sources), which flows entirely in Albania, was artificially connected with Lesser Prespa Lake, through the opening of a channel. The intervention aimed to use the waters of the lake for the irrigation of the plain of Korçë. However, over the years the sediment carried by the river steadily covered the greater part of the lake on the Albanian side. Thirty years...

Aiming to determine possible scenarios for the water level fluctuation of Lesser Prespa Lake, this crucially important study formed the basis for the adaptive water and wetland management efforts undertaken over subsequent years in the Greek part of the Lesser Prespa Lake area and in particular the reconstruction of the sluicegate at Koula. The need for the effective water level management of Lesser Prespa Lake had been clear for many decades...

The protection and preservation of the aquatic habitats of Lesser Prespa Lake require, amongst other things, the careful management of its waters. For this reason, the Society for the Protection of Prespa (SPP) has carried out regular monitoring of basic water parameters since its establishment in the early 1990s, including measuring the water level and the water temperature of the lake, as well as using a Secchi disk to measure...

TThe transboundary Prespa lakes basin is a globally unique place, due to its geomorphology, ecological richness and biodiversity. To be effectively protected this single watershed needs a common management policy from all three states sharing it. Following a proposal and lobbying by the Society for the Protection of Prespa (SPP) and World Wide Fund for Nature - Greece (WWF Greece), the transboundary Prespa Park was duly founded in 2000, with...

Lesser Prespa Lake, Great Prespa Lake and the slopes of the surrounding mountains make up a single natural basin, whose waters can only be protected and preserved as a whole. Thus, cultivating a shared transboundary vision for water resource management has always been a long-term goal of the Society for the Protection of Prespa (SPP). The principle of integrated river basin management is at the core of our work in...

In a nutshell, this project addresses a large proportion of the programme of the Society for the Protection of Prespa (SPP) for the overall conservation and protection of Greek and transboundary Prespa, as foreseen in the organisation’s Strategic Framework for the period 2023-2027, as well as support for core administrative and managerial work. These efforts aim to contribute to achieving the long-term goals set out in the previous strategic framework,...

The water policy strategy of the Society for the Protection of Prespa (SPP) relates to a broad spectrum of work referring to facilitation, information exchange, lobbying and advocacy, awareness raising and capacity building at the national and transboundary level. In Greece, along with the development of River Basin Management Plans for the 14 Greek river basin districts, the Ministry of Environment requested the preparation of a discrete Prespa basin management...