Antecedentes
Before 1990, industry accounted for the largest share of Albania’s GDP (about 58%) using the country’s rich chromites and copper deposits that are found in the north-central and northern parts of the country. Albania has also been subject to 25 years of oil and gas exploration in the south-western parts of the country. After the start of the transition period, however, industrial production decreased considerably owing to the closure of the main branches of heavy industry. By 1999 the share of industrial production in the GDP was only 11.9%.
In Albania, the culture of protecting the environment is quite recent, and was only introduced after 1990. In the past attention was paid to industrial development, showing little respect for environment. These decades of industrial pollution resulted in a heavy inheritance, where industrial pollution was concentrated in so-called “historical pollution” sites and “hotspots”. The National Environmental Action Plan[1] highlighted that the environmental situation around the closed industrial sites is a serious concern. The copper, chromium, iron-nickel and oil industries have produced several million tons of industrial wastes that were disposed without environmental and human health considerations. In addition a number of chemicals stored inside the production lines of closed chemical factories pose a serious problem requiring urgent measures for safe disposal of such chemicals. highlighted that the environmental situation around the closed industrial sites is a serious concern. The copper, chromium, iron-nickel and oil industries have produced several million tons of industrial wastes that were disposed without environmental and human health considerations. In addition a number of chemicals stored inside the production lines of closed chemical factories pose a serious problem requiring urgent measures for safe disposal of such chemicals.
Previously conducted studies identified five ‘environmental hotspots’ that require urgent attention in order to halt dangerous risks to human health and the surrounding environment, another four that are also raising serious threats and eight mining and metal processing sites that should be considered as priority sites. Moreover, an additional number of hotspots have been identified in the mean time by the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Water Management of Albania based on the information and request for interventions received from the local governments as well as on the other donors’ programmes that focused on chemicals management.
However, the country does not have yet a comprehensive and accurate inventory of all “environmental hotspots” including their prioritization based on the actual site-analysis. A detailed assessment of current situations and needed interventions are required for most of the sites that have not been addressed by any donor assistance projects.
Programme Description
UNDP in Albania is supporting the Government’s efforts in dealing with these environmental hotspots. The Country Office has currently under implementation 3 projects. The first one has a regional approach and aims at cleaning up sites in the Western Balkan countries. The selected Albanian site is Bajza railway station where dangerous chemicals have been stored in an uncontrolled manner. The second one will identify, prioritize and assess the hotspots throughout the country. The third one is located in Zharez and will pilot cleaning up methods for the oil fields in the area.
Strengthening capacities in the Western Balkans countries to address environmental problems through remediation of high priority hot spots
The NEAP Albania (2002) reported that an estimated 3,100 tons of chemicals in the public economy sector and 1,000 tons of pesticides in the agricultural sector and many of them are obsolete stock and represent different levels of risks for health and the environment and should be effectively managed. In spite of this there is still no accurate inventory of these substances at the national level and there is no plan to avoid or minimize their threat as hazardous waste.
Bajza is a small town (Kastrioti Commune) situated in the northern part of Albania, about 15 km far from Shkodra city. The railway station of Bajza is located at the shore of the transboundary Shkoder Lake and all railroad transportation to and from Montenegro passes Bajza railway station and its customs clearance. In early 1990s estimated 200- 250 tons of expired pesticides (Rrogor, vofatox, nogos, selinon, novakrom, spitsornit, 2-4 D, fugorat, sevin, lindan, etc31.), industrial chemicals and other materials were put together in one of the storage house of the Bajza railway station. The origin of pesticides is not quite clear, however, during 1991-1992, German company Schmidt-Cretan imported and temporarily stored in Bajza 480 tons of hazardous chemicals. The most notable of these chemicals were toxaphene and phenyl mercury acetate, both of which have been banned in the EC since 1983. It was reported that one litre of toxaphene, for example, was capable of contaminating two million cubic meters of water and killing all of the fish there32. Although most of these pesticides were turned back in Germany in 1993 for safe disposal, people from the surrounding area had raided the station and took many of the barrels emptying toxic chemicals directly at the railway station and storehouses. It was also reported that several sheep that grazed around the store house and downhill side of railway station had died after the incident took place. Moreover, in following years fishermen at Shkoder Lake had reported masses of dead fish in the lake.
Recent site visit revealed that almost all bags are torn out and most of pesticides are mixed with small pieces of leather (10-15 cm) stored in the same storehouses. The pieces of leather are stored from many years to be exported in Hungary as a raw material for glue making. However, it is expected that by now these pieces of leather are contaminated beyond re-use and should be safely disposed together with the rest of chemicals. The site visit also revealed that the whole storage area needs to be decontaminated under the stingiest safety concern to avoid leakages of chemicals to the transboundary lake.
Identification and prioritization of “environmental hotspots” in Albania
UNDP Country Programme Document (CPD) for 2006-2010, prepared in the framework of UN Development Assistance Framework for the same period, highlighted that environmental hotspots remain the biggest challenge with other related socio-economic factors posing immediate risks to human health and the environment. The CPD 2006-2010 committed that UNDP will assist the government in dealing with the ‘pervasive problem of persistent organic pollutants (POPs)[2] as well as environmental hotspots’ as an integral part of Country Programme Outcome 2: “Policies developed and implemented that support the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals - MDGs.” as well as environmental hotspots’ as an integral part of Country Programme Outcome 2: “Policies developed and implemented that support the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals - MDGs.”
The National Strategy for Socio-Economic Development (NSSED), the 2006 National Plan for Legislation Approximation and other sectorial strategies and action plans such as the National Environmental Action Plan (NEAP) and the recently drafted National Environmental Strategy (NES) fully acknowledges the importance of addressing the environmental hotspots and proposed short, medium and long term actions to tackle these environmental hotspots. The NES also highlighted that the country will need to show considerable progress in environment over the coming decades to achieve accession to the European Union, even though Albania will not be fully compliant with the “heavy investment” elements of the European Union legislation during the accession period. The Government Programme for 2005-2009, therefore, considers rehabilitation of environmental “hotspots” caused by old and abandoned industries among the key priority areas in the environmental protection., therefore, considers rehabilitation of environmental “hotspots” caused by old and abandoned industries among the key priority areas in the environmental protection.
The project proposes in a first stage, to identify, prioritise and assess the environmental hotspots throughout Albania, and as a second stage to focus on addressing the priority hotspots with detailed assessments. Capacity building activities will be carried out. Action plans for the sites rehabilitation will be the final product of the project.
The proposed project will be implemented as a follow up of the studies mentioned in the section above. It will represent a further step that will eventually lead to the clean up of the heavily polluted sites in Albania. As the previous studies before it, the current project proposal will attract various donors in this process.
The project will be implemented in close cooperation with the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Water Administration (MoEWA) and its Agency for Environment and Forestry (AEF). The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Energy will be another implementing partner as they are responsible for the rehabilitation and/or safe closure of the industrial related hotspots.
The project activities will start with and Inception Phase of 4 weeks. During this period the project will be made operational and all the related necessary arrangements will be done. At a minimum, the following will be undertaken:
· Establishment of the Project Board/Steering Committee;
· Clarification of the sourcing of key players: Project Manager, Project Finance and Administrative Assistant, Local Technical Expert, Local Expert for Awareness Raising, and initiation of their recruitment;
· Confirmation of the source of resources to carry out the assessment of hotspots, including the desk studies of existing documentation, identification of the comprehensive list of hotspots, the environmental assessments to be carried out in Task 1, and the prioritisation to be carried out in Task 2;
· Confirmation of the mechanism and resources to develop the web-based data base;
· Preparation of Terms of Reference for the above tasks and initiation of recruitment procedures;
· Confirmation in principle of the source of resources to carry out the EIAs on the selected priority sites, in Task 2 (ie UN staff, Local experts, International experts etc.);
· Preparation of an Inception Report which will be used as the baseline document for the project, against which progress will be assessed;
· Approval of the Inception Report by the Steering Committee within the first 8 weeks.
Zharez Oil sludge lagoons, waste treatability study, Albania
The Patos - Marinza oilfield is one of the largest onshore heavy oil fields in Europe located mainly in the Western Lowlands of Albania of the Fier district. The oil field was discovered in 1932. Exploration and production started at Patos and production extended in the fifties up to the north bordering Marinza. The surface is about 240,000 ha. In the Patos - Marinza oilfield over 2,500 wells have been drilled from which less than 40% are active. Wells have been historically running by utilizing conventional pump jacks with some of the lighter Marinza zones having a partial water flood scheme. Oil production reaches 400 t/d, while in the past this was five times more. The oilfield suffered from the lack of investments in technology, infrastructure as well as up-to-date methods of management.
The exploration, production and refinery activities are heavy polluters in terms of spills and leakages due to old technology and or no treatment at all. The oilfields of Patos Marinza have been recognized by a survey of UNEP as one of the five ‘hotspots’ in Albania for clean up investments by donors.
The study proposed is focused on testing of various treatment methods of oily wastes resulting from activities related to crude oil production in the Patos-Marinza oilfield, which - with the area of about 240,000 ha - is one of the largest onshore heavy oil fields in Europe. It is located in the Western Lowlands of Albania. Over 2,500 wells have been installed at the Patos - Marinza oilfield from which less than 40% are active now. In consequence of exploration, production and refining activities, the site has been heavily polluted with crude oil and oil products. Based on results of UNEP survey, the oilfields of Patos - Marinza have been recognized as one of the five ‘hotspots’ in Albania.
In cooperation with AlbPetrol the site at Zharez has been selected for the project implementation. At Zharez there is so called “ecological pit” where various oil laden wastes are deposited. The ecological pit consists of two separated lagoons containing about 60,000 t of oiled wastes. The maximum concentration of petroleum hydrocarbons reaches up to 45%. The lagoons are now completely filled with oily sludge resulting from activities related to crude oil extraction.
The methods/techniques considered will be – solidification/stabilization, incineration of oiled waste – in the country (alternative fuel) and out of the country, and alternatively containment/capping.
A Programme Unit has been set up to follow the implementation of the above mentioned projects. It consists of a programme manager, a programme financial and administrative assistant, a technical expert and a public awareness expert, all locals.
[1] NEAP was approved in 2002.
1 The GEF/UNDP funded project on preparation of the National Implementation Plan for Reduction and Disposal of POPs ended in June 2007.
Deberes y responsabilidades
Strengthening capacities in the Western Balkans countries to address environmental problems through remediation of high priority hot spots
- Assist in preparation of the environmental assessments and EIA-s for the selected hotspot.
- Assist in development of the stakeholders’ network.
- Assist the preparation for the cleaning-up plan.
- Assist in preparation of TOR-s for project activities
- Assist the capacity building activities.
- Assist the Programme Unit in checking the results/reports/studies provided by the other contractors.
- Assist the Programme Unit in preparing the regular reports and the reports to the donor, both financial and technical.
Identification and prioritization of “environmental hotspots” in Albania
- Organise and conduct the Inception Phase.
- Prepare the Inception Report.
- Assist in developing a comprehensive inventory of hotspots.
- Assist in the development of the criteria for hotspots prioritization.
- Assist the relevant experts for preparation of the ToRs for environmental assessments and EIAs for the selected hotspots and in the studies themselves.
- Assist the capacity building activities.
- Assist in preparing the Action Plans for hotspots remediation.
- Assist the Programme Unit in checking the results/reports/studies provided by the other contractors.
- Assist the Programme Unit in preparing the regular reports and the reports to the donor, both financial and technical.
Zharez Oil sludge lagoons, waste treatability study, Albania
- Assist in the site analysis.
- Assist the Programme Unit in checking the results provided by the Czech Company who will perform the study.
Competencias
- University degree in a relevant field, preferably in chemistry
- At least 15 years of professional experience in environment field, preferably with waste management and/or hot spots
and capacity building - Good environmental legislative knowledge from the relevant fields
- Thorough knowledge of EU environmental acquis
- At least 3 years experience in capacity building
- Knowledge of Albanian environment is an advantage
- Fluent in both, written and spoken English
- Good communication and training skills
- Computer skills
Habilidades y experiencia requeridas
- University degree in a relevant field, preferably in chemistry
- At least 15 years of professional experience in environment field, preferably with waste management and/or hot spots
and at least three years in capacity building - Good environmental legislative knowledge from the relevant fields
- Thorough knowledge of EU environmental acquis
- Knowledge of Albanian environment is highly desirable.
- Fluency in English (written and verbal).
- Good communication and training skills
- Computer skills
NOTE: Interested and qualified candidates should submit their updated CV, and a budget proposal.
"The International Consultant will be recruited for the entire implementation period of the projects, as support, advisor and backstopping to the Programme Unit. His/her total input will be 160 man/days during the 30 months of programme implementation. The activity will be performed in Tirana and in the home country of the Consultant (approximately half of the time, 80 working days, should be spent in Albania)"