Activities

A webinar with the aim to present the efforts of different stakeholders to preserve and promote the last big free-flowing river in Europe – the Vjosa river. The webinar will provide information on the scientific importance of the Vjosa and its conservation values and present the efforts to establish the Europe’s first wild river National Park.

The webinar is organized in the frame of All4Climate Italy 2021 initiative that is being held ahead to the COP meeting. 

Pre-COP26 is the final official ministerial meeting ahead of COP26, the UN climate summit which will be hosted in Glasgow in November 2021 under the presidency of the UK, in partnership with Italy. Every UN Conference of the Parties (COP) is preceded by a preparatory meeting held about a month before, called the Pre-COP. The purpose of this meeting is to provide a select group of countries with an informal setting in which to discuss potential political roadblocks to ramping up climate ambition and to establish strategies for overcoming those challenges come the COP26 negotiations.

Join the webinar online on September 30th, at 11:30.

The Vjosa river flows freely from the Pindus mountains in Greece into the Mediterranean Sea in Albania – largely without artificial obstacles. On its course, the river provides all types of river ecosystems, including canyons, wide sections with huge gravel islands, meandering stretches and an estuary with a lagoon. However, what makes the Vjosa particularly unique is the fact that most of its tributaries – such as the Bence, Shushica, Drinos – are also free-flowing. Main river and tributaries together form the most intact river system that remains in Europe outside Russia. As such, the river is of outstanding value, which makes it worthy of a special protection designation: Europe ́s first Wild River National Park.

Most recently, ten Alternative Nobel Prize winners – including the renowned Prof. em. Dr. Michael Succow – addressed and signed an open letter to the Prime Minister of Albania, Edi Rama, the Minister of Tourism and Environment Blendi Klosi, the Albanian President Ilir Meta  and several EU representatives, urging these leading politicians to protect the Vjosa River and begin preparations to establish it as Europe’s first Wild River National Park. More specifically, they call upon the politicians to safeguard the entire river valley, including its tributaries and that the national park protections adhere to IUCN standards.

Signees of the letter include:

Prof. em. Dr. Michael Succow, Germany, Right Livelihood Award 1997

Angie Zelter for Trident Ploughshares, UK, Right Livelihood Award 2001

András Biró, Hungary, Right Livelihood Award 1995

Raúl Montenegro, Argentina, Right Livelihood Award 2004

Bianca Jagger, Nicaragua, Right Livelihood Award 2004

Anwar Fazal, Malaysia, Right Livelihood Award  1982

Maude Barlow, Canada, Right Livelihood Award 2005

Tony Rinaudo, Australia, Right Livelihood Award  2018

Martin von Hildebrand for Consolidation of the Amazon Region (COAMA), Colombia, Right Livelihood Award 1999

Jean Bellini for Comissão Pastoral da Terra (CPT), Brazil, Right Livelihood Award 1991

This letter is a part of the outpour of international support demanding a Vjosa National Park Now. Celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio and Ellie Goulding have used their platforms to raise awareness and take action on this issue and so have hundreds of others. Thank you to each of the Alternative Nobel Prize winners for their support in this cause of for the continued support of many others

Brief description                

EcoAlbania within the frame of “Save the blue heart of Europe” campaign would like to engage the services of one coordinator on legal background and expertise to coordinate the initiative “Lawyers for Rivers” with the main focus to tackle and initiate litigation processes against the illegal hydropower projects in Albania.

Terms of Reference

Background

The centre for Protection of the Natural Ecosystems in Albania (EcoAlbania) is a non-governmental environmental organization that works on the protection of the natural ecosystems and their ecological interactions through the protection of the wildlife and their habitats with the belief that the use of the renewable natural sources should be sustainable for the society wellbeing in the country. In addition, its actions contribute to stop the increasing destruction and help on the recovering of natural environment. Thus, EcoAlbania aims is to strengthen the friendly coexistence of man and nature in Albania.

Since its establishment on 2014, EcoAlbania has been the local partner of the “Save the Blue Heart of Europe” campaign in Albania.

The campaign “Save the Blue Heart of Europe” was launched in 2013 in order to raise awareness about the imminent dam craze on the Balkan peninsula and to spare the most valuable rivers and river stretches from destruction. Since then, it is implemented by a wide coalition of NGOs all over the Balkans and it is coordinated by the International NGOs, EuroNatur and Riverwatch.

One of the strategies to challenge the upcoming 2.700 dams in the region, is the initiation of litigation processes against the construction of the dams.

Thus, the tactic to counter the “dam tsunami”, will be the establishment of the “Lawyers for Rivers”. This initiative will aim to establish a group of professional lawyers all over the Balkans that will be willing to initiate and follow litigation processes against the construction of the dams on the individual countries.

Objective

In this context, the EcoAlbania seeks to engage a coordinator of legal background to be able to establish and coordinate the “Lawyers for Rivers” in Albania that will counter the construction of illegal and harmful hydropower in relation to nature and to local communities.

Tasks and Responsibilities

 Task 1: Data collection and assessment research on HPPs. Conduct in-depth review of the sectorial legislation (Law on Concessions, Law on Energy, Law on Environmental Protection etc.); Prepare a full dataset and mapping of HPPs in Albania including planned, under construction and operational ones.

Task 2: Develop a technical Filtering & Prioritisation of HPPs. Develop a multicriteria technique to prioritise the HPPs that have the best chances to be tackled via litigation processes. Thus, via filtering shall come up with shortlist of HPPs that can be subject to litigation.

Task 3: Setting up the team of Lawyers. Using the already existing channels and networks of EcoAlbania and its partners, the coordinator will be responsible to establish the group of lawyers that will be able to effectively and actively challenge the HPPs that will be identified as subject to litigation.

Task 4: Coordinating the “lawyers for river”. After the establishment, the coordinator will be responsible for the activation and operation of the “Lawyers for Rivers” team in Albania. Organization of regular meetings and periodic “state of affairs” reports will be some of the tools to be conducted within the frame of ensuring the effectiveness of the heterogenous group of “Lawyers for Rivers”. In Addition the coordinator must be able to initiate and follow cases on administrative complaint level with the relevant public institutions.

Task 5: Communication is one of the key responsibilities of the coordinator. The coordinator must be able to initiate and exchange the information between different stakeholders and levels including: national institutions, local communities, lawyers’ groups, International partners, wider public (media). The communication shall include several ways such as drafting of requests for information addressed to national authorities, direct meetings, virtual calls, drafting media articles or participating in the media.

Task 6: Reporting is another crucial responsibility. Thus, the coordinator must be able to prepare and share reports of progress, short memos, within the team of the lawyers’ group as well as with the EcoAlbania’s partners. Reporting includes also the preparation of the technical Reports within the frame of the initiative. 

Necessary Qualifications (please differentiate between what is mandatory and what is desirable)

• University in Law, legal studies or, Environmental studies; (Mandatary)
• A minimum of five years of work experience as consultant/expert/project in the field of hydro development in Albania; (Mandatory)
• Extensive knowledge on Albanian legislation, in the framework on Concessions, Administrative Law, Hydropower Sector and Environment Law; (Desirable)
• Knowledge and/or previous experience working in the framework of hydro development issues in the region will be an added advantage; (Desirable)
• Excellent communication, drafting and presentation skills in Albanian and in English; (Mandatory)
• Computer literate (Mandatory)
• Ability to travel within the country and abroad (Mandatory)
• Valid driving licence (Desirable)

 Necessary Documents for Application

•  Letter of Expression of Interest
• Curriculum Vitae
• Education and Skills Certificates (Copy of Diploma and Certificates)
• Certificate of Judicial Status

Recruitment

The recruitment will follow a specific method that will include the open call for application of the candidates in the step 1. The first filtering process will go through the checking of the administrative content of the candidates. Secondly, all the candidates that will pass the first filter will be interviewed by a jury of lawyers independent from EcoAlbania. They will select the most skilled and capable candidates that will take part in a one-week training session in the topics of the requested responsibilities. All the candidates will go through the final step of selection that will be an improvised judicial process that will enable to the jury to assess even the practical skills of the candidates. In the end of the process the jury will come up with the 3 selected candidates.

EcoAlbania reserves the right to choose the candidate that will be assigned as the project coordinator for the job vacancy

Please send your applications to the e-mail address: [email protected]

Deadline for applications: May 9th 2021

EcoAlbania point of contact (Post & Name): Olsi Nika, Executive Director

[1] The amount refers to gross monthly salary and includes all the fees according to legal obligations in force in Albania. Office facilities, mobility costs and daily allowances, accommodation in case of business trips shall be covered by EcoAlbania separately to the indicated amount.