This week is declared as EU Climate Diplomacy Week. It takes place on 12-18 September, as a campaign to remind each country who signed this agreement to turn promises into action. Paris climate conference was held in December 2015, where 195 countries agreed to the world's first universal action plan to tackle climate change by limiting global warming to ‘well below 2°C’. This historic achievement was just the beginning – now every country must implement their action plan on climate.
The Paris agreement will come into effect in 2020, empowering all countries to act to prevent average global temperatures rising above 2 degrees Celsius and to reap the many opportunities that arise from a necessary global transformation to clean and sustainable development. Countries have agreed that there will be no back-tracking in these national climate plans, meaning that the level of ambition to reduce emissions will increase over time.
The Republic of Albania and The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia submitted their new climate action plan to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) ahead of 2015 Paris Agreement. Implementing climate action plan, imply to both governments and stakeholders concrete measures to protect environment. This is crucial also for Lake Ohrid region, reach of flora and fauna. It has been estimated that it is the lake with the highest biodiversity in the world, taking into account the number of endemic species per surface area. The catchment area also supports equally rich and important biodiversity with exceptionally high number of endemic species.
The project “Towards strengthened governance of the shared transboundary natural and cultural heritage of the Lake Ohrid region”, (co financed by EU and Albanian Ministry of Environment and implemented by UNESCO), aims to profile this transboundary area by assessing its values and opportunities for sustainable development, and to improve capacities for the effective management of natural and cultural heritage. The European Union is contributing 1.7 million EUR to the project in the framework of its assistance to pre-accession countries in the field of Environment and Climate Change.