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As a consequence of declining industrial activity during 1990s, the Albanian industry and installed technological systems presently do not pose a significant technological risk to the population and material property of the country. However, a quantity of hazardous materials, substances, and products are still in stock and new industrial activities are developed. Rehabilitation of environmental pollution, especially the historic pollution at the hot spots, continue to be one of the main priorities that needs to be addressed urgently aiming the achievement of significant improvement of environmental situation and quality of life and economy for communities living in and around the selected environmental hotspots as well as environmental protection in the cross-border context.
While of primarily environmental concern, hazardous materials should also be of high concern for civil emergency services. They are a potential threat activated by external cause of either of natural (earthquake, flood, landslides) or anthropogenic (fire) origin. Response to accidents of such nature is the responsibility of either respective (plant) maintenance services or specialized units.
Compounded with disasters of natural origin they can create an unfavorable environment for the operation of civil emergency services responsible for management of effects of the primary disaster. To avoid on-spot surprises that can hamper the entire relief operation, emergency plans must include the location of hazardous stockpiling (substances, materials, and waste disposals) with estimates on zones of probable adverse effects. For this, a detailed inventory and cadaster should be developed and put under an adequate disaster information management system.
Direct and instantaneous threat from industry and other technologic systems comes from explosions, fires, collapse of industrial facilities, collapse of large solid waste industrial depots, mine shaft collapses, etc. Such accidents usually need the back up of civil emergency systems since the scale of generated effects and threat to population and material property in the ‘effect zone’ overwhelms the capacity and capability of maintenance systems and other specialized units.
Technological risk refers to major accident hazard, a source of danger that has the potential to cause a major incident, whether that involves multiple fatalities and/or significant damage to plant, equipment, or the environment. A hazard originating from technological or industrial conditions, including accidents, dangerous procedures, infrastructure failures or specific human activities, that may cause loss of life, injury, illness or other health impacts, property damage, loss of livelihoods and services, social and economic disruption, or environmental damage.
The occurrence of different types of hazards impacts the society, economy and environment in the country, deteriorating country risk profile. Increased vulnerability follows increased physical exposure of people and assets. Higher levels of exposure are a result of many factors including a lack of integration of disaster risk criteria into development planning generally and at all levels, and a lack of compliance with existent safety norms and standards.
Since the early 1990s the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) has committed itself to the prevention of, preparedness for and response to industrial accidents, especially those with transboundary effects in its region. The 1992 ECE Convention on the Transboundary Effects of Industrial Accidents helps protect human beings and the environment against such accidents by preventing them as far as possible, by reducing their frequency and severity and by mitigating their effects. The technological hazards should be assessed also as an obligation of the Government of Albania toward the implementation of the Convention on the Transboundary Effects of Industrial Accidents, ratified in 05.01.1994 by Albanian Parliament as well as the EU Directive 2012/18 of the European Parliament and of the Council dated 4.7.2012, “On the control of major accident risks involving dangerous substances, amending and subsequently repealing Council Directive 96/82/EC”.
RESEAL project, intends to support the efforts of the Government of Albania for improving the disaster risk management (DRM) system in the country. The overall objective of the project is to strengthen Albania’s DRM system and support country’s efforts in becoming a fully-fledged member of the EU Civil Protection Mechanism. The project is also in line with promoting the implementation of Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR) and is developed based on the Albania’s earthquake PDNA recommendations. Also, in light of the severe and acute public health emergency due to the COVID-19 global pandemic, measures related to risk preparedness and risk mitigation of biological hazards will be provided.
The project is built upon the results of an ongoing two-tier UNDP pilots i) National DRR Capacity Assessment and ii) pilot intervention in Lezha Municipality.
At central level, the findings of the DRR Capacity Assessment would facilitate the process of strengthening DRM policy framework through drafting of the National DRR Platform for DRR and the National DRR Strategy and its Action Plan. During the capacity assessment a parallel process focused on preparedness and response capacities related to management of biological hazards as a national and community priority. It has been recognized as part of the Sendai Framework and is globally addressed under the International Health Regulations. Civil Emergency Plans will be developed based on disaster risk reduction strategies, disaster risk assessment documents, civil protection capacities, new expert findings, as well as experiences gained in disaster management. At the institutional level, the project supports institutional strengthening of the new Civil Protection Agency (NCPA), whereas for creating an enabling framework for DRR, the project will further support membership to EUCPM.
Therefore, UNDP is seeking for qualified expertise to continue and expand its work in the area of DRR at national level and ensure the continuity and coherence through building upon the results and progress made in 2021. In this respect, the services of an International Expert on Technological Risk Assessment are highly demanded contributing to the update of the Albania National Risk Assessment.