SEE (Balkan) Convention Process (History and Background Documents)

The important step for the cooperation of the mountain regions in the Balkans was raised during the Second Global Meeting of the Mountain partnership held in Cusco, Peru in 2004. UNEP-Vienna office, EURAC – Italy and MAKMONTANA/BFSD-Macedonia, initiated the idea for the development of SEE (Balkan) Convention.

The first official meeting on: “Sharing the experience – Capacity Building on Legal Instruments for the Protection and Sustainable Development of Mountain Regions in South Eastern Europe”, was held in Bolzano, Italy from 12 to 13 December, 2005, where all participating SEE (Balkan) countries adopted common statement that their Governments may consider to develop a regional legal functioning framework for co-operation between relevant national authorities and regional/local stakeholders (statement pdf 102Kb [en]).

During the second official meeting: Intergovernmental consultation on the “Cooperation for the Protection and Sustainable Development of Mountainous Regions in South Eastern Europe (Balkan region)” which was held in Pelister, Republic of Macedonia, from 12-13 May 2006, the common statement was drawn by the participants recognized that a legal framework for cooperation is feasible, and a draft should be prepared and ready for the next meeting in Bolzano, Italy (statement pdf 189Kb [en]).

The Balkan Foundation for Sustainable Development elaborated an issue paper “Assessment on the current situation and needs of cooperation on the protection and sustainable development of mountain regions/areas in South-Eastern Europe (Balkans)”. This document was produced in the framework of the project “Legal instruments for cooperation in Mountain regions of Europe” supported by the Italian Ministry of Environment and Territory (background pdf 906Kb [en]).

On the last Intergovernmental meeting for the preparation of a legal framework for the Protection and sustainable development of mountain regions in South Eastern Europe – “SEE Mountain Convention Process”, held in Bolzano, Italy from 3 to 4 November, 2006, the framework text convention was adopted by the participating SEE countries. It was also affirmed that a legal framework should include Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Kosovo (under UN interim administration), and involve Greece and Slovenia (legal framework pdf 46Kb [en]).

The Convention should provide protection and sustainable development of the SEE Mountains in their entirety as a uniform regional ecosystem. Parties should agree to establish a comprehensive policy towards this, and endeavor to cooperate in several areas of common interest, including biodiversity, agriculture and rural development, forest land use, management of water resources, transport, tourism, cultural heritage and traditional knowledge, energy and spatial planning.

The Convention is designed as a framework-type agreement: its substantive provisions are set out in general terms, which need, for their effective implementation, to be specified through additional protocols.