Together for nature

A group of women and small local businesses from Shar Mountains Region participated on several trainings to boost women’s engagement towards income increase by offering local products. Tourism, traditional cooking and local recepies, knitting, sеwing, production of milk and other local products, are only some of the possibilities for the women of this region. For motivation, exchange of ideas and experiences, networking, the same group met with the network of Rural Women of Prespa and visited the women-led family farm “Spirit of Prespa”.

The tourism pillar was also topic for discussion on the trainings organized during July 2022 for mountaineers and rangers of protected areas. Apart from specific tourist infra and suprastructure, participants had the opportunity to join the exercise of practical marking of hiking trails and development of diverse hiking offers.

These activities are expected to contribute to further sustainable management of protected areas, especially of the newly established national park Shar Mountains. In that sense, a draft management plan is a subject of an ongoing strategic environmental assessment (SEA) procedure. It is a tool for the management of the national park to meet the different needs in the area, while following legal obligations. This document is designed with an inter-disciplinary approach, bringing together experts and interested parties to discuss the future management of the protected area and is developed in a wide consultation process with the intention to ensure ownership among the management authority and other stakeholders. The plan should be used as a guidance in sustainable management of the area, balancing between nature protection and the socio-economic development of the region. As part of the SEA procedure, a public consultation debate is scheduled to take place at Tetovo University on 16th September 2022 (Friday). More details and the related documentation is available on the following link.

All three events are organized within the framework of the GEF funded STAR5 project “Achieving Biodiversity Conservation through Creation and Effective Management of Protected Areas and Mainstreaming Biodiversity into Land Use Planning”, implemented by UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning as the main partner and beneficiary.