World Environment Day: EU and UNDP with a comprehensive set of measures for protection of the Lake Prespa Ecosystem

He still vividly remembers how things used to be, when he was a kid. How he jumped into the waters of Lake Prespa some 50 years ago together with his friends, at the spot which is now filled with overgrown tall grass and bushes.

Samedin Ajrulai, now 66-year-old, points at the small shed, some 400 meters away from the current shoreline of the scenic freshwater lake in North Macedonia, indicating how much the water has receded.

Lake Prespa is among the oldest freshwater lakes in Europe which has persisted at least 1 million years, located on the triple border of North Macedonia, Albania and Greece.

On the World Environment Day, we take a closer look at the challenges the people living in its vicinity face, but also how with a wide-ranging set of measures, worth 13 720 000 €, the European Union and UNDP will strengthen the protection of its biodiversity, while advancing the efforts for sustainable agriculture and tourism.

In addition, the programme „EU for Prespa“ includes major infrastructure interventions for wastewater and solid waste management as well as the construction of border crossing „Markova Noga“, connecting North Macedonia to Greece promising greater economic opportunities, an expansion of the region’s touristic potential and closer ties between communities around the lake.

This is a continuation of UNDP longstanding support for the region, considering the investments over the past 15 years in the integrated management of the Prespa lake, both on national and trans-boundary level....

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