Spatial Analysis on Length of Coastline Occupied by Human-Made Structures

Towards a Marine Good Environmental Status (GES) in Albania Spatial Analysis on Length of Coastline Occupied by Human-made Structures

The GEF-funded project “Implementation of the Ecosystem Approach in the Adriatic Sea through Marine Spatial Planning” (GEF Adriatic) is carried out across the Adriatic- Ionian region with focus on two countries: Albania and Montenegro. The main objective of the project is to restore the ecological balance of the Adriatic Sea through the use of the ecosystem approach and marine spatial planning. Furthermore, the project aims to accelerate the implementation of the Integrated Coastal Zone Management Protocol and facilitate the implementation of the Integrated Monitoring and Assessment Programme. Just as importantly, it will contribute to the achievement of the good environmental status of the entire Adriatic. The project is jointly led by UNEP/MAP, PAP/RAC and SPA/RAC. In Albania, the project implementation is coordinated by the Ministry of Tourism and Environment with National Agency for Protected Areas. The project duration is from 2018 to 2021.

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La version longue des logos ONU Environnem ent et PAM doit être utilisée dans les docum ents ou juridiques. L a v ersion cour te des logos est destin e tous les produits de com m unication tourn s vers le public.

Ministry of Tourism and Environment Bulevardi “Dëshmorët e Kombit” Nr.1, 1001, Tiranë, Albania E: [email protected] National Agency of Protected Areas Bulevardi “Dëshmorët e Kombit” Nr.1, 1001, Tiranë, Albania E: [email protected], [email protected]

Author: Elson Salihaj, national GIS expert Graphic design: Old School S.P. Cover image: Polina Rytova @unsplash.com

The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.

This study was prepared by PAP/RAC, SPA/RAC, UNEP/MAP, National Agency of Protected Areas of Albania and Ministry of Tourism and Environment of Albania within the GEF Adriatic Project and supported by the Global Environment Facility (GEF). Spatial Analysis on Length of Coastline Occupied by Human-made Structures

Table of contents 1 Introduction ...... 1 2 Previous analyses ...... 2 3 Albania's coastal area ...... 4 4 Method and input data ...... 6 5 Results ...... 7 6 Conclusion ...... 11 7 References ...... 12 8 Additional chapters needed for GES Assessment ...... 13 8.1 Impacts of coastal artificialization ...... 13 8.2 How to approach the GES assessment ...... 13 8.3 Gaps and development needs ...... 14 8.4 Connections between Coastal Ecosystems and Landscape and other ecological objectives ...... 15

List of figures Figure 3.1. Administrative borders of Municipalities in Coastal region (Green: State Borders, Blue: Coastal zone) ...... 4 Figure 4.1. Figure depicting changes in the same area between 2015 (orthophoto on the left) and 2020 (Google Earth imagery) ...... 6 Figure 5.1. Topographic map of Albania (1:200,000) on the left, with state border and coastline (on the right) ...... 7 Figure 5.2. Coastline delineation by type(artificial/natural) – Albania ...... 8 Figure 5.3. The type of coastal artificial structures in Albania ...... 10 Figure 8.1. Example: the base imagery is from 1996. The yellow line shows the coastline border in the actual year ...... 15

List of tables Table 5.1. Length of coastline in Albania ...... 7 Table 5.2. Length of artificial coastline in Albania, according to type of structures ...... 9

ii Spatial Analysis on Length of Coastline Occupied by Human-made Structures

1 Introduction

Monitoring the length of coastline subjected to physical disturbance due to the influence of human-made structures (and its trend), is of paramount importance to preserve habitats, biodiversity, and help preventing impacts of coastal erosion and flooding, as well as for its importance in land-sea interactions. Until now there has not been systematic monitoring on Mediterranean level regarding this, in particular not quantitatively based monitoring on a wider Mediterranean basis. That is why UN Environment/MAP has introduced the Ecological Objective 8: "Coastal ecosystems and landscapes" within the application of the Ecosystem Approach to assess the level of the environmental status of sea and coasts (Good Environmental Status - GES). This Ecological Objective is specificity in relation to the Marine Strategy Framework Directive: it is based on a number of articles of the Protocol on the ICZM in the Mediterranean, in particular on Article 8 and Article 16. Ecological Objective 8 and its Common Indicator 16 (“Length of coastline subject to physical disturbance due to the influence of human-manmade structures“) are an integral part of the UNEP/MAP Integrated Monitoring and Assessment Programme (IMAP), also developed for Albania within the GEF Adriatic Project.

The aim of this report is providing national inputs to the assessment of Ecological Objective 8: "Coastal ecosystems and landscapes", i.e. Common Indicator 16, in terms of providing outputs of the spatial analysis on length of Albania coastline occupied by human-made structures. In this way, the monitoring of the CI16 will be carried out as Contracting Parties agreed, and the results will contribute to the Mediterranean Quality Status Report – QSR planned for 2023, while contributing at the same time to the preparation of the assessment of Good Environmental Status (GES) of marine and coastal areas of Albania.

The area of analysed indicator is the coastal area of Albania from the Buna River in the border with Montenegro on the North to the border with Greece on the South. Municipalities that are part of the coastal area are: Shkodër, Lezhë, Kurbin, Durrës, Kavajë, Rrogozhinë, Divjakë, Fier, Vlorë, Himarë, Sarandë.

This report includes the spatial analysis on identification of length of Albania coastline occupied by human-made structures. Such analysis follows the national monitoring programs for EO8 for Albania developed within the GEF Adriatic project, based on the IMAP indicator guidance fact sheet for Common Indicator 16. In addition to this report, attribute tables of GIS polyline layers of: (i) human made structures and (ii) artificial/natural coastline, are featured in format that is in line with the IMAP Information Standard for CI16. In that way, the results of the above study will be in format suitable for uploading to the Info MAP System, which is a primary platform for data collection and management of Contract Parties to the Barcelona Convention.

2 Previous analyses

Albania developed the Integrated Cross-Sectorial Plan (ICSP) for the Coastal Belt, which is the most important planning document for the integrated management of the coastal area in Albania, even though there isn't yet a survey for the coastline occupied by human made structures. The ICSP is to serve as the „constitution“ of the coastal region development, which promotes a sustainable economic development, social integrity and protection of the nature assets until 2030. The plan is the result of the joint contribution and unremitting efforts of the specialists of the National Territorial Planning Agency (Albanian: AKPT) and the Ministry of Urban Development (Albanian: MZHU).It was approved by Decision number 02 by the national Territorial Council on 14 June 2016.

The ICSP takes into regard the directives and guidelines of UN and EU on sustainable development, development of coastal areas, obligatory directives on environmental protection and the national legislation on territorial planning, environment, heritage, water resources and agricultural resources.

The Albanian coastal area, characterised from a dense and diverse concentration of economic and natural resources, has been and continues to be under the pressure of high demand to utilise and exploit its resources. If this pressure is not tackled initially, it risks to produce an unsustainable development, it can do unrecoverable damages to the natural resources and specific ecosystems of the region, and can have a negative impact in the continuous degradation of the urban and natural landscape.

The vision, development strategy and policies contained in The ICSP for the Coastal Belt represent the highest act of territorial planning for all Coastal Belt, which will serve as general reference framework and will be used to direct the drafting of other successive planning documents, regional and local plans included. In itself ICSP is based and is fully oriented from the vision, strategic objectives and policies of the General National Territorial Plan (GNTP).

The ICSP gives the required development vision for the coastline. This plan directs sectorial developments that have national importance in the areas of tourism, environment, transport, energy, agriculture, culture, etc., and also the urban development in the territories administered by municipalities.

Like any other planning document that has a national impact and has a sectorial focus (NSP), the content of ICSP for the Coastal Belt, is determined from law no. 107/2014, “On planning and developing the territory”, found as follows: . Sector analysis document; . Strategies and objectives of sector development; . Proposal based on territorial designation, . NSP Regulations; . Maps accompanying and reflecting the content of each of the above mentioned points; . Study of the environmental strategic assessment; . Economic, social and financial assessment, implementation phases and the necessity for important administrative and legal changes; . Action plan; . Indicators used for the monitoring process.

This plan can be used as a guideline on the utilization of the land along the Coastal Belt, but has no mission in showing detailed development conditions for the constructions in the shore. These details are given from general national plans or other detailed plans drafted for certain zones of national importance.

2 Spatial Analysis on Length of Coastline Occupied by Human-made Structures

The methodology that is used in defining the proposals for development along the Coastal Belt is based in the principle of: 1. Protection of certain layers-zones that have international, national, regional and local importance and excluding such zones from construction/intensive urban development. 2. Prioritising projects for each sector.

Based on this methodology it can be assured that: . Firstly, the protection of environmental and cultural international and national importance zones (national parks); thorough monitoring and improving conditions for zones that have a high risk of erosion, land-sliding, flooding or other areas that have negative phenomena as a consequence of climatic changes; having regard to the urbanised zones (decision no. 5, date 29/12/2014 of NTC), that supports densification and consolidation of existing urban zones and not the spread of new developments outside the defined space. . Secondly, finalization of international priority projects; connecting national infrastructure with the international corridors (ports, airports, railways, corridors-highways); development of national infrastructure and public transport. . Thirdly, protection of 6 layers of agricultural land, olive groves layer, fruit terraces layer, viticulture layer, pastures layer and forests layer. . Fourthly, identification of areas that have priority for tourism development based on the current sectorial legislation on tourism; revitalisation, regeneration and development of historic localities which are abandoned or have a seasonal development.

The Integrated ICSP for the Coastal Belt has a formal and legal character. It ensures: . integration of sectorial policies, objectives and projects; . defining land utilization based on the priorities; . coordination of sectorial interests to solve conflicts between them in order to give way to projects and investments that have a national importance; . a referring and obligatory framework to be followed for the general national plans, that have to take into account the objectives, priorities and regulations on land utilization, all coming from ICSP.

3 Albania's coastal area

The Albanian shoreline extends across two seas, the Adriatic Sea in the north and the Ionian Sea in the south.

Figure 3.1. Administrative borders of Municipalities in Coastal region (Green: State Borders, Blue: Coastal zone)

3.1.1 Adriatic Sea

The Albanian Adriatic coast is generally low and flat, formed as a result of continuous and uninterrupted accumulation of sediments from rivers. Only in some hilly areas, which have also created capes on the coast, erosion continues. The main bays on the Albanian shores of are: the bay of Vlora, Durrës, Rodon and Drini while the main capes are the Cape of Treports, Seman, Selita (Lagji) Bishti i Pallës, Cape Rodon etc.

On this coast are also the estuaries and deltas of the most important rivers of Albania, such as Vjosa, Seman, Shkumbin, Erzeni, Ishm, Mat, Drini and Buna. Between the estuaries of the rivers, there are also some coastal lagoons, such as Narta, Karavasta, Patoku, Viluni, etc.

On the Albanian Adriatic coast, tidal phenomena are of irregular periodicity, with an average daily width of 30-40 cm. Temp. the monthly average of the coastal area in summer reaches 23.4-25.1 ° C, while in winter it drops to 11.1-14.3 ° C. The salinity of water ranges from 36.5-39,000 per thousand. In general, as a result of the incoming and outgoing currents of the Otranto canal, the waters along the Albanian Adriatic coast are warmer and with higher salinity than those of the Italian coast. D. Is there water with high visibility about 40 m, and blue in colour.

The Albanian Adriatic coast, as a typical agglomeration coast, is shallow, the isobath 100 m, lies about 20-30 km away from the coastline. In the open sea, the waves have a maximum height of about 8 m, while in the coastal they have a height of about 3.5-4.0 m. Along the Adriatic coast lies the Coastal Waters, the most important and largest industrial and agricultural area of the country. It also has the main ports of Albania, Durrës, Vlora and Shengjin.

3.1.2 Ionian Sea

The Albanian coast of Ionian Sea, extends from the cape of Stilos in the south to the cape of Gjuha in the north. with a length of about 170 km and with few exceptions is the typical erosion coast. It is generally rocky and interrupted by a series of

4 Spatial Analysis on Length of Coastline Occupied by Human-made Structures

streams, which have created small and very picturesque beaches, such as Borsh, Himara, Vuno, Dhërmi, etc. The coastline is broken and forms capes, bays and bays such as. the cape of Stilos, the cape of Shkalla in Ksamil, the bay of Butrint, the bay of Saranda, Porto Palermo, etc. The depth of the coast is great and increases going towards the cape of Gjuhëza. SW and NW winds prevail. The largest waves have a height of 3-3.5 m. The average tidal width is about 30 cm. Offshore water temperature ranges from 14 ° in February to 25 ° in August. The waters have great transparency, dark blue colour and salinity up to 39 per thousand. The main ports of the Albanian Ionian coast are Saranda and Himara. Its shores form one of the most picturesque coasts of the Mediterranean basin, also known as the Albanian Riviera.

Administratively, the Albania’s soastal region includes 11 municipalities: Shkodër, Lezhë, Kurbin, Durrës, Kavajë, Rrogozhinë, Divjakë, Fier, Vlorë, Himarë, Sarandë.

4 Method and input data

Monitoring of the Common indicator 16 focuses on measuring the length of artificial coastline and its share in total coastline of the Albania. Primary input data for the research was a digital ortophoto imagery, taken in 2015, performed with spatial resolution of 20 cm and provided by State Authority for geospatial information (ASIG, http://www.asig.gov.al). The vector coastline created was corrected using Google Earth 2020-year imagery. In the framework of the Project by fulfilling one of its main tasks, using GIS applications with 2020 year images and working with a scale of 1: 1500 we managed to provide the following data regarding the length of the coastline as well as the share of human-made structures.

In the figure below (Figure 4.1) the yellow line represents the coastline in the year 2020. The coastline has been corrected by making changes that have occurred in the area during this period (2015-2020).

Figure 4.1. Figure depicting changes in the same area between 2015 (orthophoto on the left) and 2020 (Google Earth imagery)

The length of artificial coastline should be calculated as the sum of segments on reference coastline identified as the intersection of polylines representing human-made structures with reference coastline ignoring polylines representing human-made structures with no intersection with reference coastline.

The minimum distance between coastal defence structures is set to 10 m in order to classify segments with wider distance than that as natural, i.e. if the distance between two adjacent coastal defence structures is less than 10m, the complete segment including both coastal defence structures is classified as artificial.

The information in the attribute table associated with the GIS information layer, according to the information standards for the Common indicator 16, for the coastline of Albania are: . CPCODE: (Two-letter code of Country) Al . ART_NAT: Code for type of segment of coastline. . 0 Natural coastline . 1 Artificial coastline . ASCODE: Code of type of artificial infrastructure. . 1 Breakwaters . 2 Seawater/Revetements/Sea dike . 3 Groins . 4 Jetties . 5 River mouth structures . 12 Port and marinas . Municipal: Name of municipality or local administrative region where the polygon/polyline of segment of coastline is located . Year: Year of production of the information layer . Ref_Year: Year of the reference coastline used to represent natural and artificial segments

6 Spatial Analysis on Length of Coastline Occupied by Human-made Structures

5 Results

The results are prepared according to Indicator guidance factsheet for EO8 Coastal Ecosystems and Landscapes Common Indicator 16 “Length of coastline to physical disturbance due to the influence of manmade structures “

The Albanian coastline calculated based of the state border published from ASIG is 525.17 km. This is the result after converting polygon vector to polyline in GIS software. The official coastline length has not been set in official documents. Some sources mention different coastline lengths (Figure 5.1), for example the380 km length that came as the result of the calculations from topographic maps (sc 1:200,000), and the measures made with planimeter, where the error is much greater than with GIS In the following maps, it’s explained better than the length is more than 380 km.

Figure 5.1. Topographic map of Albania (1:200,000) on the left, with state border and coastline (on the right)

We have updated the length of coastline using GIS applications with 2020 year images and working with a scale of 1: 1500 we managed to provide the following data regarding the length of the coastline as well as the share of human-made structures

Table 5.1. Length of coastline in Albania

Length (Km) Human-made structures 79.95645492 Natural 462.6533614 Grand Total 542.6098164

Figure 5.2. Coastline delineation by type(artificial/natural) – Albania

8 Spatial Analysis on Length of Coastline Occupied by Human-made Structures

Coastal delineation by type 150

100

50 Length km Length

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Series1 22 65 29 68 19 18 10 27 9,6 44 13 137 28 0,5 1,3 7 7,4 13 23

Municipality 0/1 code

Sum of Shape_Leng Column Labels Row Labels DIVJAKÃ‹ DURRÃ‹S FIER HIMARÃ‹ KAVAJÃ‹ KONISPOL KURBIN LEZHÃ‹ RROGOZHINÃ‹ SARANDÃ‹ SHKODÃ‹R VLORÃ‹ (blank) Grand Total 0 22.40586376 65.14920722 28.87340948 67.97205902 18.98683865 18.24707103 10.16667394 26.63039825 9.577338914 44.29299664 13.32252423 137.0289803 462.6533614 1 28.00331659 0.460679598 1.272441698 7.003621389 7.425065626 13.12805692 22.6632731 79.95645492 (blank) Grand Total 22.40586376 93.15252381 29.33408908 69.24450072 25.99046004 18.24707103 10.16667394 34.05546387 9.577338914 57.42105356 13.32252423 159.6922534 542.6098164

As we can see on Figure 5.2, most of the artificial structures on the coast are located close to the major settlements with strong economic activities. Certain „zones“ with more prominent coastal artificialization in Albania are: (i) in the North - area around Shëngjin in Lezhë County; (ii) in the Central part – area around Durrës, and beaches northward and southward of Durrës; and (iii) in the Southern part – area surrounding the Vlora Bay.

Spatial distribution of different type of artificial infrastructure is shown in Figure 5.3.

Table 5.2. Length of artificial coastline in Albania, according to type of structures

As code Length (Metres) % 0* 1564.705009 1.959893 1 Breakwaters 2451.627004 3.07082 2 Seawall/Revetment/Sea dike 13849.40165 17.34726 3 Groins 14731.72574 18.45243 4 Jetties 1469.212762 1.840283 5 River mouth structures 1539.556362 1.928393 12 Port and marinas 44230.01249 55.40092 Grand Total 79836.24102 *Can not be classified under the offered list of categories. The artificial structures are dominated by " Port and marinas " (55.4%), „Groins“ (18.45%) and " Seawall/Revetment’s/Sea dike " (17.34 %), while "Breakwaters " (3.07%), "River Mouth Structures" (1.92%), „Jetties“ (1.84%).

Figure 5.3. The type of coastal artificial structures in Albania

10 Spatial Analysis on Length of Coastline Occupied by Human-made Structures

6 Conclusion

The purpose of this report is to produce information for Common Indicator 16 “Length of coastline to physical disturbance due to the influence of manmade structures“ for Albania coast.

Out of total coastal length of Albania – 542.61 km, the length of natural coastline of Albania is 462.65 km (85.26% of total length) while the length of artificial coastline is 79.96 km (14.74% of the total length). The artificial structures are dominated by "Port and marinas" (55.4%), “Groins“ (18.45%) and "Seawall/Revetment’s/Sea dike" (17.34 %), while "Breakwaters" (3.07%), "River Mouth Structures" (1.92%), “Jetties“ (1.84%).

Digital data (shapefile format with required attributes) is an integral part of this report.

7 References

. Encyclopedia of Albania . UAV photo (ASIG) http://www.asig.gov.al/english/index.php . Ortophoto (ASIG) http://www.asig.gov.al/english/index.php . Google earth imagery https://www.google.com/earth/ . Ministry of Urban Development, National Territorial Planning Agency (2017). Integrated cross-sectorial plan for the coastal belt. Albania

12 Spatial Analysis on Length of Coastline Occupied by Human-made Structures

8 Additional chapters needed for GES Assessment

8.1 Impacts of coastal artificialization

Coastal zones are increasingly altered by the loss and fragmentation of natural habitats and by the proliferation of a variety of built structures, such as ports, marinas, breakwaters, seawalls, jetties etc. These coastal human-made structures cause irreversible damage to landscapes, loss of habitat and biodiversity, and have strong influence on the configuration of the shoreline. Indeed, physical disturbance due to the development of artificial structures in the coastal fringe can disrupt the sediment transport, reduce the ability of the shoreline to respond to natural forcing factors, and fragment the coastal space. The modification of emerged beach and elimination of dune system contribute to coastal erosion phenomena by lessening the beach resilience to sea storms. Coastal defence structures have been implemented to solve the problem together with beach nourishment but preserving the natural shoreline system with adequate sediment transport from rivers has proved to be the best solution.

In addition, the closer the artificial structures are to a coastline; the more exposed they are to waves and storm surges, and sea level rise. Considering that these pressures will intensify in future due to climate change, each further construction in coastal zones should be carefully thought trough, since it can create additional financial burden of protecting and repairing such structures from the damage caused by climate hazards.

The Albanian coastal ecosystems are under a significant pressure. Risks are connected with lost of biodiversity and natural habitats, that play an important role in the health of humans, food chain and in the availability of the natural resources on economic development. Based on a study made from UNDP and INCA (http://www.senior-a.al/docs/Vleresimi_i_gjendjes_ se_mjedisit_detar_ne_Shqiperi.pdf) for the strategic plan related with the protected areas, this situation comes as a consequence of the combination of several factors:

Deficiencies in waste management. Nearly 60% of the population in Albania lives near coastal areas (INSTAT, http://www.instat.gov.al/). Inert wastes have had a considerable decrease as a consequence of closure of many industries, but there is seen an increase in urban waste caused from tourism development, especially in the coastal zones of Adriatic Sea.

Coastal development from tourism and related urbanization is intensified in the recent years. This has brought an increase in population number which leads to: ecosystems degradation; increase in erosion; dumping of sewage in the sea due to the lack of adequate construction of sewage networks; and loss and fragmentation of natural habitats while endangering species that are near extinction.

Aquaculture development, which can bring significant losses in the marine habitats. Use of antibiotics and retention of faeces matter, impacts the quality of water by actually reducing it.

Climate change and its consequences. For instance: the global sea level based on the projections, is predicted to increase by 0.28-0.98 metres. Only this effect of climatic change will bring big consequences in the coastal areas through loss of land territories, destruction of ecosystems and the impact it has in the economic activities of coastal cities and villages. Some of these changes are: increase of air temperature and marine surface area; average changes and extreme rainfall; changes in the frequency and intensity of storms; increase of sea level.

8.2 How to approach the GES assessment

In 2019, at the meeting of the Ecosystem Approach Correspondence Group on Monitoring (CORMON) on Coast and Hydrography cluster, the Contracting Parties of the Barcelona Convention expressed the importance of the definition of Good Environmental Status (GES) regarding the Common Indicator 16. In addition, it was emphasized in particular that, due to

national circumstances such as socio-economic, historic, cultural and alike, unique targets and GES cannot be applicable to all Mediterranean countries and hence, cannot be specified quantitatively as a threshold value (UNEP/MED WG. 467/6). It was therefore agreed that the definition of GES and related targets and measures should be left to each Contracting Party, taking legal obligations of the Barcelona Convention into account, in particular the ICZM Protocol (especially its Articles 8 and 16).

In Albania, the Integrated Cross-Sectorial Plan (ICSP) for the Coastal Plan gives the required development vision for the coastline. This plan directs sectorial developments that have national importance in the areas of tourism, environment, transport, energy, agriculture, culture, etc., and also the urban development in the territories administered by municipalities. . Firstly, the protection of environmental and cultural international and national importance zones (national parks); thorough monitoring and improving conditions for zones that have a high risk of erosion, land-sliding, flooding or other areas that have negative phenomena as a consequence of climatic changes; having regard to the urbanised zones (decision no. 5, date 29/12/2014 of NTC), that supports densification and consolidation of existing urban zones and not the spread of new developments outside the defined space. . Secondly, finalization of international priority projects; connecting national infrastructure with the international corridors (ports, airports, railways, corridors-highways); development of national infrastructure and public transport. . Thirdly, identification of areas that have priority for tourism development based on the current sectorial legislation on tourism; revitalisation, regeneration and development of historic localities which are abandoned or have a seasonal development.

However, the ICSP for the Coastal Plan does not refer to any „numerical“ target for artificialization in the future.

Since the GES definition for IMAP’s CI16 is to minimize negative impacts due to new structures with no influence on the larger scale coastal and marine system, it is essential to observe the temporal trends in coastal artificialization. Similar analyses in the future should be carried out according to exact methodology defined in IMAP’s Indicator Guidance Factsheet for CI16, so that the establishment of the trend (i.e. comparison between states in two different time periods) becomes consistent and hence, not prone to faulty interpretations.

8.3 Gaps and development needs

In order to implement the Common Indicator 16 with an acceptable level of accuracy, recent data sources with proper spatial resolution and complete coastline coverage were used with adequate GIS tools and by qualified expert. At the moment, there are no evident obstacles regarding this part in the future as well. What needs to be ensured is that the methodology of the next assessment will be the same as in this one, so that the trends between two time periods can be observed properly.

In this study, the lack of a standardized framework that should determine the type of the necessary structure, and its location, was observed. In other words, different subjects construct structures, sometimes unnecessary, which are not placed where maybe needed. This gap leads to the unnecessary artificialization of the coastline.

Also, many of the structures are improvised, not planned by a specialist, and not constructed with the right materials. This makes their shape and function difficult to categorize.

14 Spatial Analysis on Length of Coastline Occupied by Human-made Structures

Figure 8.1. Example: the base imagery is from 1996. The yellow line shows the coastline border in the actual year

The coastline erosion had begun to erode the both estuary sides of offshore. The construction of these groins showed with white elliptical line resulted in the faster erosion of the right estuary line. Therefore, before constructing the structures a technical institution should determine the impact of artificial structures in coastal environment, because in most of the cases it causes the opposite impact.

8.4 Connections between Coastal Ecosystems and Landscape and other ecological objectives

Ecological Objective 8 is linked (to different extent) to following Ecological Objectives: . EO1 Biodiversity: Constructions along the coastline affects primarily supra and medio littoral habitats and its typical species, and also benthic habitats in near-shore shallow waters due to smothering. In addition, in case construction takes place near important birds/reptiles’ habitats, such as beaches and coastal wetlands, it could seriously impact their distribution and abundance. . EO5 Eutrophication: Urbanised areas in coastal zone could be significant source of eutrophication in near-shore marine areas, in particular in the absence of the appropriate wastewater treatment. . EO7 Hydrography: Physical alteration of the coastline, due to human-made structures, could have direct impact on the changes of thy hydrographic conditions, which can in turn lead to changes in marine habitats and biodiversity. . EO9 Contaminants: Type of specific construction/near shore activities (such as shipyards, marinas etc) could lead to contamination of marine area. . EO10 Marine Litter: It can be expected that urban areas could have larger quantities of marine litter deposits on the beaches or in the seawater.

These complex interactions are being in (constant) process of re-examination and discussion.

The main objective of the project is to restore the ecological balance of the Adriatic Sea through the use of the ecosystem approach and marine spatial planning. Furthermore, the project aims to accelerate the implementation of the Integrated Coastal Zone Management Protocol and facilitate the implementation of the Integrated Monitoring and Assessment Programme. Just as importantly, it will contribute to the achievement of the good environmental status of the entire Adriatic. The project is jointly led by UNEP/MAP, PAP/RAC and SPA/RAC. In Albania, the project implementation is coordinated by the Ministry of Tourism and Environment with National Agency for Protected Areas. The project duration is from 2018 to 2021.