The Balkan Green Belt is to expand further. In the three-country border area of Albania, Kosovo and Macedonia there are plans to create a “Shar Park” covering 2,000 square kilometres across borders.
The Shar-Planina mountains are a precious habitat for the rare Balkan lynx.
© Ljubomir StefanovMacedonia’s environment minister Abdulaqim Ademi stated on a trilateral conference in Popova Shapka in Macedonia (Shar mountains), which was organised by an environmental committee of the United Nations (UNEP), that this hotspot of biodiversity shall become a designated National Park in 2012. For many years, EuroNatur and the Macedonian Ecological Society have jointly promoted the protection of the 50,000 hectar-wide mountain region.
There is soon to be a nature preserve with more than 2,000 square kilometres combining the existing Shar National Park in Kosovo, the Mavrovo National Park in Macedonia and the Korab region in Albania, which is also to be a designated nature park as of 2012. EuroNatur supports the project to create one of the largest adjacent nature preserves in southeast Europe.
More about the EuroNatur projects to protect the Balkan Green Belt.
Still in search for the right Christmas gift? Adopt a lynx by a EuroNatur sponshorship!
Thus, you will help to increase the chances of survival of these rare big cats in Europe - amongst others, by protecting their habitats along the Balkan Green Belt.