Although a hunting ban in place since 2014, Illegal killing of Birds (IKB) in Albania is still present and causing a lot of victims among birds. The BirdLife International report (2015) on IKB in the Mediterranean estimates that 206,000-325,000 individual birds may be illegally killed or taken each year in Albania. ‘Illegal shooting’ was the primary type of illegality.

The above figures list Albania as one of the ten Mediterranean countries with worst record in IKB. The most problematic areas list the wetlands in the coastal areas, Semani river outlet as well as the terrestrial areas of Terbufi and Tirana,Korca, Shkodra and Elbasani as the most problematic ones. The reasons for the existence of IKB activities are numerous but mainly linked with lack of appropriate enforcement of legislation on hunting, fauna, biodiversity and protected areas. This is also related with lack of a comprehensive hunting legislation, lack of capacities and the need for further awareness and education ensuring both fauna protection and responsible hunting.

 The current project aims to eliminate or mitigate the above listed factors in order to effectively tackle the problem of IKB by creating a solid baseline on IKB and main blackspots in Albania, by fostering an improvement in the hunting legislation and in the knowledge of law enforcement agencies about IKB problem and mitigation measure and by raising awareness and educate hunter’s community and other relevant groups on fauna protection and alternative sustainable livelihood activities.