51
Water
Water sector legislation is quite similar in all of the
Western Balkan countries, with the exception of
Croatia due to its direct implementation of the key
EU directive. The water sector is regulated at the
state level in all countries, except in BiH where the
entity governments are responsible for adoption of
legislation, planning and development of the sector.
There are no direct references within policies which
link climate change in general, or climate change in
mountain regions specifically, to water management.
However, water legislation deals with water-related
natural disasters such as flooding, which can be
associated with climate change in certain cases.
BiH, Croatia, Serbia and Slovenia are Parties to the
FrameworkAgreement on the SavaRiver Basin (FASRB).
10
The purpose of this agreement includes the establishment
of sustainable water management and the undertaking
Sectoral Strategies
of measures to prevent or limit hazards on the Sava
River, which was the biggest national river in former
Yugoslavia. One of the projects implemented under this
Framework Agreement was the pilot project on climate
change, entitled “Building the link between flood risk
management planning and climate change assessment in
the Sava River Basin”, which was implemented between
March 2011 and December 2013. Through expanded
and strengthened collaboration among the countries in
the Sava River Basin, the project’s goal was to address
transboundary management of floods while taking into
account the impacts of climate change under different
scenarios and the perspective adaptation measures. The
project outcomes included several reports and studies,
including the Report on climate change adaptation
measures for flood protection in the Sava River Basin
(2014) which recommended a series of measures
including the implementation of flood early warning
systems and the renovation or construction of new
flood protection measures (Brilly
et al.
, 2014).
Albania, BiH, Croatia, and Montenegro are
contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention
against Pollution in the Mediterranean Sea,
11
a
regional convention meant to prevent and abate
pollution from ships, aircraft and land-based
sources in the Mediterranean Sea. This Convention
has seven protocols addressing specificities of
Mediterranean environmental conservation, one of
which is the Integrated Coastal Zone Management
(ICZM) protocol for the Mediterranean.
12
The
ICZM Protocol has six goals, including the
prevention and reduction of natural disasters and
climate change (European Union, 2011). The Action
Plan for the implementation of the ICZM Protocol
2012–2019 was adopted in 2012. It has identified
the need for climate change to be fully integrated
into the ICZM process, and has defined specific
objectives that include mainstreaming of climate
change responses in the delivery of the Protocol by
promoting the development of methodologies and
No data
WATER
Albania
Croatia
FYR
Macedonia
Montenegro
Serbia*
Kosovo**
Regional
(Joint responses)
Bosnia
and Herzegovina
**This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244/99 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence.
*No water policy available for Serbia.
Copyright© 2015GRID-Arendal • Cartografare ilpresente/NievesLópez Izquierdo
Policy Evaluation Matrix
Mainstreaming
of adaptation
goals and targets
Adaptation
targets
4
3
2
1
Availability of
implementation
tools
Mountain
adaptation
considerations
Regional/transboundary
adaptation considerations
Monitoring
and Evaluation
Participation
1- low or not considered at all
2- low or mentioned at least
3- somewhat integrated/present
4- high or fully integrated