Protecting Lake Ohrid, Albania and Macedonia

The Selca Tombs are a masterpiece of human ancient settlements, witnessing the traditional way of life in Illyria in 4th - 3rd century BCE. The area is very close to Lake Ohrid, just 40 km from Pogradec. The royal tombs belonged to Illyrian princes and princesses of the ancient city "Pelion". These two-storey monumental tombs are situated inside the rocks, in a very beautiful hill of the village Selca e Poshtme, Pogradec. They were first discovered in the 1940s and were fully explored in 1971. The findings were very impressive and exciting for historians and archaeologists at that time. There are 5 tombs in the area, four of them are inside the rocks, and another one is separated and located in a field nearby. The first tomb belonged to a princess, which was buried with her golden accessories, such as her earrings and a tiara. All the elements found inside the tombs are now displayed at the National Historical Museum in Tirana. One of the most interesting findings of

Contribution of IUCN Regional Office for Eastern Europe and central Asia (ECARO) Short film and video spot The waste management awareness campaign, that took part during the summer and autumn months of 2017, was marked by various community activities as well as the cleaning up of illegal dumpsite along the Ohrid lakeshore. The final activity of this campaign focuses on reaching out to a wider audience by presenting a promotional short video and a 30-second animation clip. The focus of the two videos is to sensitize the inhabitants of the Pogradec region about the values, beauty and the threat of waste to the lake, with aim to inspire and motivate all generations to better manage their waste by reducing, reusing and recycling it. In order to ensure local ownership and sustainability, the entire waste campaign was designed and implemented in close partnership with the Municipality of Pogradec, and in consultation with the local NGOs 'Une, Gruaja' and the sustainable tour

A two-day workshop led by ICCROM has marked the beginning of a consultation campaign in the Lake Ohrid region, involving a local team of volunteers from the entire Lake Ohrid region. This campaign supports the EU-UNESCO project "Towards strengthened governance of the shared transboundary natural and cultural heritage of the Lake Ohrid Region". It sought to offer a final 'transboundary' contribution to the future management of this World Heritage property and its proposed extension by drawing on stakeholder knowledge and capacities. The aim is to highlight opportunities that will bring benefits to both the communities and the heritage in the Lake Ohrid region in line with Sustainable Development Goals. Held in Ohrid (the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) and in Pogradec (Albania), the launch of the workshop brought together the transboundary team of volunteers together with ICCROM consultants to ensure that the proposed methodology was adapted to the regional

The Lake Ohrid region is known for its outstanding natural and cultural heritage and a large part of it is already recognised for its Outstanding Universal Value through the inscribed World Heritage property "Natural and Cultural Heritage of the Ohrid region" in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. In order to strengthen the integrity and protection of the existing World Heritage site, UNESCO initialised an Upstream Process for the inclusion of the remaining part to the World Heritage List. UNESCO and the Advisory Bodies joined their forces with the corresponding authorities of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Albania in a common effort to safeguard the heritage values of the region. The realization of the pilot project was feasible thanks to the generous financial support of the European Union Delegation to Albania and the Ministry of Tourism and Environment of Albania. The project is now reaching its close, having achieved important results that serve a

Balkan Film Food Festival opens today in Pogradec which will be held from 2-7 July 2018. This is the only yearly cultural Balkan festival organized in Albania.  The 8th edition of this festival gathers artists from all the Balkan countries. More than 75 movies will be showed during this week in Pogradec. Most of the movies are work of young groups from the Film Schools in Rumania, Serbia, Albania and Macedonia. Some of the films competing in this festival are: "Dita zë fill”, Genti Koçi, Albania; “Martesa”, Blerta Zeqiri, Kosovo; “Omnipresent” Ilian Djevelekov, Bulgaria etc. The Balkan Film Food Festival is organized by the organization Art-Im-Pulse. The entrance for all the movies is free in the Cinema of Pogradec. In the end there will be announced the winners of this festival It become a tradition that this festival is held during the summer season in Pogradec, when the city is full of tourists. Starton Festivali Ballkanik i filmit dhe Ushqimit në Pogradec  Nga dat