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Environmental Governance
Applying good governance mechanisms through international standards in the field of public information, public participation and public consultation is the foundation for proper environmental governance in the country. However, in Albania, environmental governance is rarely seen as an improvement and useful mechanism for open government, but mostly a political and media discourse. The ACEG Center enjoys a long and full expertise in the field of environmental governance such as the Aarhus Convention, the Espoo Convention, and the Helsinki Convention.
Environmental justice
The increase on the consumption of primary resources and energy demand has led to the expansion of resource commodity boundaries to a global marketplace. But along this chain, the production, extraction, processing and disposal, pollution impacts are not dispersed proportionally between rural and urban populations. The most vulnerable are the vulnerable sectors of the population, which include poor rural areas, women, and children in need, who depend most on natural resources for their livelihoods.
The ACEG Center provides its expertise to communities, local organizations and groups that are in conflict with waste resource or waste disposal, focusing on the link between the need for environmental security and the protection of basic rights in order to address the uneven environmental burden.
Agro-tourism and cultural heritage
Agro-tourism is a more advanced form of eco-tourism that creates the opportunity for visitors to experiment rural life at the same time. Agro-tourism has become a form of sustainable development for rural areas. However, competition between tourist enterprises and rural tourism is increasing every day. The quality of services in the tourist sector is essential in today's highly competitive environment, so it is very important to design services that take into account every detail.
The ACEG Center with its expertise in the field of rural development and agro-tourism is promoting a new form of tourism focused on the cultural tradition and heritage that includes local traditions, crafts and original crafts, special architecture and cultural activities along with the culinary traditions and traditional diets. This innovative concept of tourism provision enables employment alternatives, tourism promotion and resource protection and adds value to agricultural products.
Corruption and environmental crime
The welfare of society is inevitably related to the state of the natural systems. Environmental hazards pose a serious concern, ranging from natural disasters such as extreme weather conditions to man-made catastrophes such as irreparable pollution and over-exploitation of species. These dangers can destabilize both the economy and the society, and cause geopolitical conflicts, destroy vital resources. Environmental crime is linked to other forms of crime such as organized crime posing a serious threat to sustainable development, peace and security. Environmental crime undermines prosperity, security and human rights. In practice, environmental crime has the form of illegal trade of protected species, smuggling of ozone-depleting substances, illegal trade of hazardous wastes, and unlawful cutting of forests and timber trade. Environmental crimes require a coordinated response from law enforcement agencies. As many countries fighting against environmental crime is not a priority because of the inability of the financial resources, logistics, knowledge and the high expertise required. In this context, the ACEG Center offers its expertise in addressing and raising awareness on the fight against this growing threat to environmental security.
Green economy and resource efficiency
The ACEG Centre offers its expertise for the local authorities for the discussion to the transition to green economy, especially on water resources which often becomes an environmental risk. In this context, ACEG offers a genuine platform for dialogue, information sharing, networking to the local citizens, authorities and academia on issues related to green economy, resource efficiency.