Better ecology for the Balkans
The EU has strived through many initiatives to assist the Western Balkans, i.e. Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), Kosovo, Montenegro and Serbia. One of these initiatives has been the EU-funded project 'Development of environmental guidelines for the region of Western Balkans' (WEB-ENV) which focused on managing water resources, renewable energy and recycled materials. The project evaluated the region's environmental challenges to recommend ways on overcoming environmental weaknesses. It mapped and assessed each country's key issues to produce a report on the latest technologies that could address environmental problems. In addition, it formulated an environmental legislation report that reviewed current environmental policies and highlighted weak points therein. In effect, WEB-ENV examined the feasibility of solutions for major environmental issues and produced clear guidelines to manage them. It organised expert teams from different countries to exchange data during project meetings and workshops, and established a comprehensive website that supports communication of information. The project's valuable results were disseminated through conferences, publications, workshops and other initiatives, ensuring that all key stakeholders are reached. This is bound to support environmental management in the region and add solid European environment-related expertise to the EU's upcoming members.
