The health of the Prespa Basin ecosystem can only be conserved and maintained by changing productive sector practices within the Prespa Basin.  Although the Prime Ministers of Albania, Greece, and The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia recently declared the Prespa Basin a symbolic trans-boundary “Park,” it is in fact very much of a productive landscape, where people live and work and impact the ecosystem around them. 

The UNDP GEF Prespa Regional Projec strategy is to mainstream ecosystem management objectives and priorities into productive sector practices and policies.  The project is designed to strengthen capacity for restoring ecosystem health and conserving biodiversity first at the national level in Albanian and Macedonian Prespa by piloting ecosystem-oriented approaches to spatial planning, water use management, agriculture, forest and fishery management, and conservation and protected area management. 

Building on this strengthened national-level foundation in the Prespa Basin, the project is designed to strengthen ongoing trans-boundary cooperation in resource management and conservation by empowering the existing trans-boundary institution and piloting trans-boundary management and conservation activities.  Finally, the project will produce and secure funding for a Strategic Action Programme endorsed at the highest levels of Government within the three littoral states.