Italy's appetite for wood fuels Albanian forest crisis

"Don't spell there; you'll beryllium eaten by the bear," we were told by 4 men successful the colony of Lekbibaj successful the portion of Tropoja successful bluish Albania.

The men's "advice" was intelligibly a informing to america that it would beryllium amended to enactment away.

We stopped successful Lekbibaj connected our mode to Vrana e Madhe, wherever a radical of residents denounced the amerciable felling of trees successful the section wood astir 2 years ago.

On the roadworthy to Lekbibaj we passed galore trucks loaded with monolithic logs. The unpaved roads and tracks successful the wood utilized by specified trucks and the grounds of large-scale logging are plain for each to see.

Destruction of Albanian forests

Albanian forests person been decimated implicit the past 3 decades. So overmuch truthful that Tropoja is 1 of the lone remaining areas successful the state wherever beech trees, which are highly prized successful the wood-processing industry, tin inactive beryllium found.

"In the past 20 years, Albania has mislaid astir 33% of its woody biomass," says Abdulla Diku, a forestry technologist who has been studying the concern successful Albanian forests for years.

Indeed, the latest study published by Global Forest Watch says that Albania has mislaid 6.5% of its full country covered by forests successful the past 2 decades.

Moratorium connected commercialized logging

In an effort to support its forests, Albania introduced a ten-year moratorium connected commercialized logging successful 2016. This means that the felling of trees successful forests for commercialized purposes is prohibited until 2026.

The lone permissible objection to the moratorium is the cutting down of trees for firewood for families and nationalist institutions specified arsenic schools, preschools and wellness institutions.

Families indispensable use to their municipality for support to fell trees to get firewood for their ain idiosyncratic use.

Companies person to get a licence to beryllium allowed to fell trees for firewood for nationalist institutions.

Large logs connected a motortruck acceptable for transportationImage: Marta Abbá

Even so, not each trees successful Albania's forests tin beryllium felled: A peculiar squad that includes wood engineers marks the trees that person been identified for firewood.

Moratorium ignored by some

But contempt the moratorium, sawmills are successful cognition astir close crossed the country. Most of these sawmills are informal and are not adjacent registered arsenic businesses.

But of those sawmills that are officially licensed to fell trees for firewood, immoderate seemingly spell 1 measurement further, intentionally cutting down the trees that are astir invaluable for processing and not those that person been earmarked for firewood.

"They load their trucks with the highest-quality beech wood. The parcels of onshore for which they person support to chopped down trees are not touched, portion trees successful the parcels with the highest-quality wood are chopped down connected a monolithic scale. No rules are observed; they chopped what they like," Ahmet Mehmeti, an experienced forestry engineer, told DW.

The relation of local government

According to Albanian law, it is the work of section authorities to negociate and power activities successful the forests, including commercialized wood exploitation.

Pjeter Imeraj is head for Lekbibaj successful the municipality of TropojaImage: Elona Elezi/DW

"We person sporadic cases of amerciable logging, but we cannot accidental that it is simply a wide phenomenon," said Pjeter Imeraj, head for Lekbibaj wrong the municipality of Tropoja.

Imeraj told DW that it is his work to pass the municipality astir the magnitude of firewood that volition beryllium needed during the wintertime play and confirms whether the amounts requested by nationalist institutions are just and realistic. The municipality past decides however galore trees request to beryllium felled.

Only 1 institution successful the tender process

The municipality told DW that a tendering process is utilized to find which companies whitethorn fell trees for firewood. It did not supply immoderate details astir the declaration concluded with Alxhef shpk, the institution that won the tender, and told america alternatively to consult the website of the Public Procurements Agency of Albania for details.

According to the agency's website, Alxhef shpk was the lone bidder successful the tender process — thing economical experts see a reddish flag.

"We person implemented everything stipulated successful the declaration and person processed lone fallen and rotten trees and we haven't chopped oregon transported timber beyond what we were contracted for," Xhafer Fiora, proprietor of Alxhef shpk, told DW.

Products destined for the USA

Alxhef shpk has galore years of acquisition successful the sector, including successful the production, commercialized and import/export of astir each types of timber and timber products.

Its main client, which it has been supplying for implicit 10 years, is Minelli Spa. This institution is portion of the Italian Minelli Group, which manufactures high-quality wood products, specified arsenic stocks for sporting and recreational rifles, handles for brushes, knives and brooms, and components for woody toys.

Large logs astatine a sawmill successful AlbaniaImage: Elona Elezi/DW

While these products are sold successful Italy and elsewhere, the US is the biggest market.

Italy: Albania's main marketplace for timber

According to authoritative information from Albania's Institute of Statistics (INSTAT), exports of wood (mainly charcoal wood) decreased somewhat successful the play 2012–2023. Nevertheless, Italy is inactive the state to which Albania exports astir timber and insubstantial products.

The Observatory of Economic Complexity, an online information visualization and organisation level that analyzes economical activities, shows that Albania began exporting timber to Italy successful 1995. According to its data, 71.7% of Albania's wood exports were sent to Italy successful 2015, a twelvemonth earlier the moratorium came into effect.

The General Directorate of Customs successful Albania declined to marque disposable immoderate information relating to the import and export of wood for the past 10 years, including customs codes for the benignant of wood exported.

The relation of the EUTR

Minelli says it was not alert of the accusations of amerciable logging made by residents of Tropoja 2 years agone and that the moratorium has not changed the dynamics of its practice with Alxhef shpk.

"We cognize that Alxhef imports from Montenegro and Kosovo, due to the fact that we person the documentation we request for registration successful accordance with EUTR 995/2010," said Marcello Minelli of Alxhef shpk's Italian lawsuit Minelli.

A way for trucks that transport timber connected the mode to Vrana e Madhe successful bluish AlbaniaImage: Elona Elezi/DW

The European Union Timber Regulation (EUTR) came into unit successful 2013. Its nonsubjective was to combat the amerciable logging of timber and its products.

In theory, the regularisation prevents amerciable timber from entering the EU marketplace and stipulates that timber entering the bloc indispensable beryllium accompanied by documents that show, among different things, the root of the wood and the taxon of tree.

Moratorium is not enough

Italian EUTR experts accidental that the regulation has more motivation than ineligible force.

Davide Pettenella, prof of wood economics astatine the University of Padua and erstwhile Balkans advisor for the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations), says that "the EUTR would not halt amerciable enactment from Albania due to the fact that the strategy is created for traceable and ineligible wood, but successful a concatenation of corruption, which starts with amerciable logging and past [continues with] controls astatine customs, measurements, income and exports, it is astir impossible."

Sources from the Italian forestry constabulary admit that they run chiefly connected the ground of documentation checks and lone behaviour random checks successful the tract each 2 years.

The EU besides highlighted problems with the implementation of the moratorium successful its 2024 study connected Albania's advancement connected reforms undertaken arsenic portion of the EU accession process. "Concerns implicit the insufficient enforcement of Albania's wood and logging laws remain," it wrote successful the report. "Despite the moratorium connected logging, these practices proceed unchecked."

Edited by: Aingeal Flanagan

This probe was conducted with the enactment of Journalismfund Europe.