Green economy promoted on the cross-border area Albania – Kosovo
Green economy is defined as an economy that is “low carbon, resource-efficient and socially inclusive”. This forward-looking concept will be promoted at the cross-border municipality in Albania (Has Municipality) and Kosovo (Kline Municipality) for 40 months through an EU-funded project named “GREEN CROSS – Towards Local Green Economies with Smart Investments”. EDEN center and Balkan Green Foundation, are delighted to work with the two municipalities to run this project and to create model municipalities that rely on green economy and green development to reduce carbon emission and pollution, enhance energy and resource efficiency and prevent the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services.
The project will contribute to an overall sustainable economic growth through sustainable green economy integrated policy, smart public investments and capacity development activities in Has Municipality which is situated on the northeastern part of Albania with 16 000 inhabitants and in Kline Municipality which is situated at the north-western part of Kosovo with 38 496 inhabitants.
In both municipalities, energy efficiency and renewable energy (namely, solar energy) will be promoted by installing efficient LED lamps in public street lighting and solar thermic and photovoltaic panels in public buildings such as schools, health clinics and kindergartens What is innovative in this project is that the investment is not isolated in time, but the municipalities and the citizens through dedicated capacity building programs and participatory budgeting workshops will be able to reinvest the savings from the energy bills in two new smart green projects. A uniform mindset will be created in the cross-border area, in the domain of ecosystem service protection and valorization. Furthermore, the two municipalities will be equipped with containers for waste collection, and clean up actions will be organized where young women and men are involved.
For the young generation of the two municipalities, we want the concepts of green economy and circular economy to have a real connection in their daily life, that the youth can see the benefits and can understand and see that the employment can be directed in this way as well. Their contribution is crucial for having sustainable development.
We will keep you updated on the activities that we will implement and on the smart investment and we will be happy if we can be an inspiration for you to develop a similar project in your city.
YEE aims to unite environmental youth non-profit organisations in Europe in order to enhance international cooperation, increase knowledge about the climate crisis, raise awareness of environmental problems and to strengthen participation of youth in environmental decision-making.
