100 Days of Partnering Towards the Vision of Vjosa Wild River National Park.

Joint statement

Albanian Minister of Tourism and Environment Mirela Kumbaro and Patagonia CEO Ryan Gellert

100 days ago, we came together to make a commitment to nature. As the leaders of two very different institutions – the Albanian Ministry of Tourism and Environment and the outdoor apparel retailer Patagonia – and as two people who share a love for wild places, we stood before an audience of government officials, NGOs, and Albanian and international journalists, at the National Theatre of Opera and Ballet in Tirana. And we signed our names to a Memorandum of Understanding, announcing our intention to collaborate on establishing the Vjosa Wild River National Park.

That day, we were clear-eyed about the complexity of the work that lay ahead. And so, after the ceremony, we walked directly into an introductory meeting with our team - the people responsible for taking every action towards permanently protecting the Vjosa and its free-flowing tributaries to IUCN Category II level.

The team comprises over 30 experts, from Albania and around the world, in fields as diverse as eco-tourism, stakeholder engagement, park planning and management, sustainable financing, environmental law, communications and marketing, and environmental impact assessment, led by national and international coordinators. As a group, we are united by an understanding of just how exceptional the Vjosa and its tributaries are, whilst appreciating the risk that this fragile and unique ecosystem is under.

True, rigorous collaboration between diverse parties is rare, especially on this scale. However, it is our intention that the Vjosa Wild River National Park provides a framework for other conservation and restoration initiatives to protect large areas of nature, around the world, involving government, civil society, and private companies. Patagonia has a history of authentic action and supporting the needs of local communities and NGOs. When these attributes are combined with the intricate knowledge, passion and expertise of a government ministry and network of NGOs, real change becomes possible.

100 days into this project and partnering with the Ministry of Tourism and Environment, the National Agency of Protected Areas (NAPA) and a network of NGOs, the working group has taken these clear steps towards our singular objective:

• Defining the borders and zones of the future national park;
• Developing a concept for the management structure of the national park, calculating the human resources, as well as material, needed for the management of the national park in the first year;
• Creating a concept for eco-tourism within the Vjosa catchment area;
• Building options to sustainably finance the operation and management of the national park;
• Supporting the process through stakeholder engagement and efforts to ensure the project remains in the public eye, at each stage.

So, what’s next? Our team of experts will be meeting for a study trip, along the Vjosa, later this week. Over a five-day programme, we will explore all the major components of the river system – including the tributaries and national monuments. We will experience and discuss methods of developing eco-tourism and, every day, we will meet with local stakeholders – communities, municipalities, interest groups and NGOs - through two-hour discussion slots and lodging overnight in hotels and guesthouses within the proposed boundaries of the national park.

Our immediate focus, following that trip, will be the creation of a detailed masterplan and then a phased approach to national park declaration, increasing the number of Vjosa tributaries represented, until all those that are free-flowing are included, and expanding the scope of this protection to encompass non-public land. It is our intention to conclude the documentation work by the end of 2022, with formal phase one declaration of Vjosa Wild River National Park, in partnership with local communities and landowners, taking place soon afterwards.

As we look to the tasks ahead, 100 days into this exceptional project, we know that transformational work takes time, and that there are no shortcuts to the complete and robust protection of the natural world. However, the inspiration we take from the communities who call this unique river system home brings us energy and focus for the rigorous work to come. And we look forward to the day soon, when we can stand together again, on the banks of the Vjosa, in the knowledge that it is protected forever.