Strasbourg, 6 June 2007                                                                                 T-PVS/Emerald (2007) 02

[T-PVS/Emerald02e_07]

CONVENTION ON THE conservation of EUROPEAN wildlife

and natural habitats

Group of Experts for the setting up

of the Emerald Network of Areas of Special Conservation Interest

Joint meeting of the Ecological Networks of the Council of Europe

Strasbourg (France), 18-19 October 2007

---ooOoo---

Development of the Emerald Network

in the

“former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”

Final Report

---ooOoo---

Document established

by the Directorate of Culture

and of Cultural and Natural Heritage

MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT AND PHYSICAL PLANNING

REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA

Development of Emerald Network

in the Republic of Macedonia

- Project Report-

                                  

Acknowledgements

The Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning of the Republic of Macedonia would like to thank the European Environmental Agency and the Council of Europe for their support in this Third Phase of development of the Emerald Network in the Republic of Macedonia. The project activities constitute important preparatory work for the future designation of the Natura 2000 ecological network, which is the instrument whereby EU countries implement and report on the Habitats and Birds Directives and the Convention on Biological Diversity.

Contents

1.Background                                                                                                                         5

2. Framework of the Third Project                                                                                       7

3. Activities carried out in the framework of the Project                                                    8

     3.1 National Emerald Team                                                                                               8

     3.2. Work plan                                                                                                                    9

     3.3. Technical Workshop for the Emerald Software and CDDA database                          10

     3.4. Identification of Emerald Species and Habitat Types                                                  11

            3.4.1.   Biogeographycal Regions                                                                                11

            3.4.2.   Emerald species present in the Republic of Macedonia                                               11

            3.4.3.   Emerald Habitat Types                                                                                    16

4. Selection of potential ASCIs                                                                                              18

5. Regional meeting of experts for development of Emerald Network                                            20

6. GIS maps                                                                                                                           21

7. Identified problems and future plans                                                                                22

1. Background

In order to produce a comparable database of the sites and species of importance for European biodiversity at a European level, the CORINE Biotopes Project was implemented in 1998-1999 following a standardised methodology. The project was completed in both the EU15 and the 13 Phare countries. It was also completed in Macedonia. The output of the project is the first valuable dataset using uniform criteria and following a harmonised methodology for classification of habitats and description of species at a European level. Moreover, it is a valuable tool for nature protection activities both at national and international levels because the output of the Project identifies additional important sites beyond those already nationally protected and its output does not directly correlate with other reporting activities like CDDA (Common Database on Designated Areas) and the Natura 2000 Network.

Natura 2000 is the instrument whereby EU countries implement and report on the Habitats and Birds Directives, as well as to the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats (Bern Convention). A similar initiative for non-EU member countries is the Emerald Network of Areas of Special Conservation Interest, launched within the framework of the Bern Convention. It represents a prolongation of the principles and criteria of the Natura 2000 network in non-EU countries; hence, it is a basic tool for the preparation of  countries for their future work under Natura 2000 and for the achievement of early compliance with the Habitats Directive. It also represents a useful instrument for the conservation of areas of great ecological value and a framework for cooperation within a homogeneous network of areas covering the whole of Europe.

The Republic of Macedonia ratified the Bern Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats in 1997 with the Law on ratification (Official Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia No. 49/97) and entered into force in April 1999. Taking into consideration the provisions of the Convention and following the Recommendations No. 14, 15 and 16(1989), 25(1991) and Resolutions No.1(1989), 3(1996), 4(1996), 5 and 6(1998), in 2002 Macedonia started setting up the Emerald Network of Areas of Special Conservation Interest for Europe by taking part in the Pilot Projects programme, proposed and coordinated by the Council of Europe.

The pilot-project was conducted during 2002. The objective was to develop a pilot database containing about 10% of the Areas of Special Conservation Interest (ASCI) and submit a proposal for designation of selected sites to the Standing Committee of the Bern Convention. The report on the realisation of the pilot-project  was sent to the Council of Europe in February 2003. Some of the activities carried out during pilot-project included: identification of habitat types and species present in Macedonia according to Resolution Nos. 4 and 6, selection and description of three potential ASCIs (Galichica - National Park, Ezerani - Strict Nature Reserve and Dojran Lake - Monument of Nature), and data entry into the Emerald software.

In order to implement the Calendar of activities for the next phase of implementation of the Emerald Network adopted by the Standing Committee of the Bern Convention in its 22nd Meeting in December 2002, the Republic of Macedonia  and its National Emerald team started with preparation activities for the Second Phase. According to the Contract signed between the Council of Europe and the Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning in February 2004, activities in the Second Project for development of the Emerald Network of Areas of Special Conservation Interest represented a continuation and enlargement of the work already begun within the pilot-project, which addressed about 30% of the total Emerald Network and contained a fair proportion of the various types of habitats existing in the country. Three potential ASCIs were identified (Pelister - National Park, Tikvesh - Strict Nature Reserve and Demir Kapija - Monument of Nature) and submitted to the Council of Europe in February 2005.

2. Framework of the Third Project (Emerald/CARDS project)

Within the CARDS Regional Programme 2002, under the Project "Strengthening the Capacities of West Balkan Countries", the European Environmental Agency allocates funds for further development of the Emerald Network in five West Balkan Countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro). The project is a continuation of the initial arrangements made by the Council of Europe. 

The overall objective of this project is the identification of 80 % of the sites to be placed within the National Emerald Network, with the following outputs:

a)    distribution per biogeographical region of all species and habitats contained within Resolution Nos. 4 and 6 of the Bern Convention and Annexes I and II of the Habitats Directive;

b)   distribution maps of selected species and habitats in GIS;

c)    site database for 80% of the sites to be listed with 60% of all ecological data filled in;

d)   digital boundaries for all areas of special conservation interest in GIS.

The project is coordinated and implemented by the Council of Europe. In order to implement/realise the project activities, two Administrative Arrangements were signed between the Council of Europe and the Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning.

3. Activities carried out in the Framework of the Project

3.1. National Emerald Team

The National Team for development of the Emerald Network in the Republic of Macedonia was first established for the purpose of implementing the pilot-project. There have been some changes in the National Emerald Team for this project, so the team includes experts from the Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning, University of Skopje - Faculty of Natural Science and Faculty of Forestry, Macedonian Museum of Natural History, NGO BIOECO and NGO Macedonian Ecological Society (MES).

Table 1: List of members of the National Emerald Team

Sonja Lepitkova

Governmental Focal Point,

Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning

Svetlana Gjorgjeva

EEA NFP, Deputy Governmental Focal Point

Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning

Robertina Brajanoska, M.Sc

National Coordinator,

Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning

Vlado Matevski, Ph.D

Flora expert

Faculty of Natural Science, Institute for Biology

Kole Vasilevski, Ph.D

Habitats expert

Faculty of Forestry

Svetozar Petkovski, Ph.D

Fauna expert

Museum of Natural History

Vesna Sidorovska, Ph.D

Herpetology expert

NGO BIOECO

Metodija Velevski

Birds expert

NGO Macedonian Ecological Society

Vasil Anastasovski

Protected areas expert

Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning

Chasle Toshevski

GIS expert

Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning

Igor Paunovski

IT expert

Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning

Roska Nikolovska

Administrator

Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning


3.2. Work plan

The work plan of the National Emerald Team for implementation of the Third Phase of the development of the National Emerald Network envisaged the following activities for the period October 2005 to November 2006:

1.   Signing of the first Administrative Arrangement (AA-1)

2.   Technical preparations

3.   Technical workshop for Emerald software with experts from CoE and EEA

4.   Data entry in a specialised database for distribution by biogeographical region and population data for the species and habitats present in Macedonia

5.   Selection of potential ASCIs

6.   Description of potential ASCIs

7.   Field trips

8.   Entry of the collected data in the Emerald software

9.   Signing of the second Administrative Arrangement (AA-2)

10. Development of maps of new ASCIs

11. Preparation of distribution maps for selected species and habitats

12. Preparation of the project Report

13. Submission of proposals for the new ASCIs to the Council of Europe

Table 2: Working plan of activities

Activity

2005

2006

1

Oct.

2

Nov.

3

Dec.

4

Jan.

5

Febr.

6

March

7

April

8

May

9

June

10

July

11

August

12

Sept.

13

Oct.

14

Nov.

15

Dec.

1

X

2

X

3

X

4

X

X

X

X

5

X

6

X

X

X

X

X

7

X

8

X

X

X

X

X

9

X

10

X

X

X

11

X

X

X

12

X

X

X

13

X


3.3. Technical Workshop for the Emerald software and CDDA database

The current project started with the technical workshop in order to evaluate the results of the previous pilot-project, to make corrections in the Emerald database and to discuss the selection of sites and the work ahead. The workshop was organised on 7-9 December 2005 in Skopje with the experts from the Council of Europe – Mr Marc Roekaerts – and the European Environmental Agency (i.e., its European Topic Center for Biodiversity [ETC/BD]) – Mr. Laury Klein. The workshop was jointly held with the ETC/BD in order to enhance the outputs and to establish a link between the activities for development of the Common Database of Designated Areas (CDDA) and the Emerald Network.

The workshop started with a presentation of the situation with the Macedonian CDDA database and possible amendments related to the list of designation types. It was recommended that emphasis be placed on habitat information that was then lacking. GIS boundaries for CDDA sites and/or Emerald sites were also to be prepared.

During the workshop, the Emerald manual and methods for entering the data into the Emerald software were presented, with special emphasis on aspects of error correction, in accordance with the Draft report on the qualitative analysis of the Emerald database of Macedonia.

A special database was created under this project by the EEA and the CoE in order to collect distributional data per biogeographical region and population data for species and habitats at a national level. Data was to be collected in a standard manner and in line with the implementation process of Natura 2000. Thus, the list of species and habitats present in Macedonia (according to Resolution Nos. 4 and 6 of the Bern Convention and Annex I and II of Habitat Directive and Annex I of the Bird Directive) and the methodology for the collection of population data were discussed. For selected species and habitats, distribution data was to be prepared as part of the activities of this project.

3.4. Identification of Emerald Species and Habitat Types

3.4.1. Biogeographical Regions

At a European level, biodiversity is addressed in terms of biogeographic regions that correspond to geographic entities which, in turn, are based on the vegetation maps of Europe. They unite species and habitats that are found in similar conditions in different countries. Of a total of 11 identified biogeographic regions, only two are found in the Republic of Macedonia:

1. Continental

2. Alpine

Considering that the borders of the biogeographic regions were administratively established, these divisions do not accurately reflect the real status of biogeographic categorization in the Republic of Macedonia.

3.4.2. Emerald Species Present in the Republic of Macedonia

Within the framework of this project, the list of Emerald species present in the Republic of Macedonia was reviewed with reference to Resolution No. 6/1998 of the Bern Convention, as supplemented by identified species from Annex II of the Habitat Directive and bird species from Annex I of the Birds Directive (see Tables 3 and 4).

The following graph shows the number of Emerald species identified in the Republic of Macedonia as compared to the number of species listed in Resolution No. 6.

 

Figure 1: Number of Emerald species present in the Republic of Macedonia

Table 3: List of Emerald species present in the Republic of Macedonia

Invertebrates

Fish

Amphibians

Reptiles

Mammals

Plants

Lindenia tetraphylla

Erebia medusa

Hesperia comma

Lycaena dispar

Lucanus cervus

Rosalia alpina

Eudontomyzon spp.

Acipenser sturio

Salmo marmoratus

Barbus meridionalis

Gobio uranoscopus

Phoxinellus spp.

Rutilus rubilio

Cobitis taenia

Sabanejewia aurata

Cottus gobio

Zingel spp.

Alosa spp.

Triturus carnifex

Triturus karelinii

Bombina variegata

Testudo graeca

Testudo hermanni

Emys orbicularis

Mauremys caspica

Elaphe quatuorlineata

Elaphe situla

Vipera ursinii

Rhinolophus blasii

Rhinolophus euryale

Rhinolophus ferrumequinum

Rhinolophus hipposideros

Rhinolophus mehelyi

Barbastella barbastellus

Miniopterus schreibersi

Myotis blythii

Myotis capaccinii

Myotis emarginatus

Myotis myotis

Spermophilus citellus

Canis lupus

Ursus arctos

Lutra lutra

Lynx lynx

Rupicapra rupicapra balcanica 

Marsilea quadrifolia

Aldrovanda vesiculosa

Astragalus physocalyx

Angelica palustris

Buxbaumia viridis

The table below presents the list of bird species identified in Macedonia according to Resolution No. 6 as supplemented by the bird species listed in Annex I of the Birds Directive.

Table 4 : List of bird species present in the Republic of Macedonia

SPECNAME

ANNEX I

RESOL. 6

Comments

Gavia stellata

1

1

last record 1960's

Gavia arctica

1

1

Gavia immer

1

1

last record 1969, possible missdetermination

Podiceps auritus

1

1

Pelecanus onocrotalus

1

1

Pelecanus crispus

1

1

Botaurus stellaris

1

1

Ixobrychus minutus

1

1

Nycticorax nycticorax

1

1

Ardeola ralloides

1

1

Egretta garzetta

1

1

Egretta alba

1

1

Ardea purpurea

1

1

Ciconia nigra

1

1

Ciconia ciconia

1

1

Plegadis falcinellus

1

1

Platalea leucorodia

1

1

Phoenicopterus ruber

1

1

Cygnus bewickii

1

1

Cygnus cygnus

1

1

Anser erythropus

1

1

old records

Marmaronetta angustirostris

1

1

last record 1940s

Aythya nyroca

1

1

Mergus albellus

1

1

Oxyura leucocephala

1

1

last record 1983

Pernis apivorus

1

1

Milvus migrans

1

1

Milvus milvus

1

1

last records <1940's

Haliaeetus albicilla

1

1

Gypaetus barbatus

1

1

Neophron percnopterus

1

1

Gyps fulvus

1

1

Aegypius monachus

1

1

Circaetus gallicus

1

1

Circus aeruginosus

1

1

Circus cyaneus

1

1

Circus macrourus

1

1

old records (NHMM)

Circus pygargus

1

1

Aquila pomarina

1

1

Aquila clanga

1

1

old records

Aquila chrysaetos

1

1

Hieraaetus pennatus

1

1

Hieraaetus fasciatus

1

1

Pandion haliaetus

1

1

Falco naumanni

1

1

Falco vespertinus

1

1

Falco columbarius

1

1

Falco eleonorae

1

1

Falco biarmicus

1

1

Falco peregrinus

1

1

Bonasa bonasia

1

1

Tetrao urogallus

1

1

Porzana porzana

1

1

last record 1960's

Porzana parva

1

1

last record 1960's

Porzana pusilla

1

1

Crex crex

1

1

Grus grus

1

1

last record 1959

Tetrax tetrax

1

1

Last record 1970's, formerly regular breeder.

Probably iregularly still present on migration/wintering.

Otis tarda

1

1

Last record 1970's,

formerly regular staging/wintering bird,

probably iregularly still present

Himantopus himantopus

1

1

Recurvirostra avosetta

1

1

Burhinus oedicnemus

1

1

Glareola pratincola

1

1

last record 1961

Charadrius alexandrinus

1

0

single record in 1980's, possible missdetermination

Charadrius morinellus

1

1

last record 1939

Pluvialis apricaria

1

1

last record <1940's

Philomachus pugnax

1

1

Gallinago media

1

1

last record <1940's

Numenius tenuirostris

1

1

not confirmed

Tringa glareola

1

1

Larus melanocephalus

1

1

Larus minutus

1

0

Gelochelidon nilotica

1

1

last record <1960's

Sterna caspia

1

1

Sterna sandvicensis

1

1

Sterna hirundo

1

1

Sterna albifrons

1

1

Chlidonias hybridus

1

1

Chlidonias niger

1

1

Chlidonias leucopterus

0

1

Bubo bubo

1

1

Strix uralensis

1

1

last record 1950's

Asio flammeus

1

1

last record 1964

Aegolius funereus

1

1

last record <1960's

Caprimulgus europaeus

1

1

Alcedo atthis

1

1

Coracias garrulus

1

1

Picus canus

1

1

Dryocopus martius

1

1

Dendrocopos medius

1

1

Dendrocopos leucotos

1

1

Melanocorypha calandra

1

1

Calandrella brachydactyla

1

1

Lullula arborea

1

1

Anthus campestris

1

1

Acrocephalus melanopogon

1

1

Acrocephalus paludicola

1

1

not confirmed

Sylvia nisoria

1

1

Ficedula parva

1

1

not confirmed

Ficedula albicollis

1

1

Lanius collurio

1

1

Lanius minor

1

1

Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax

1

1

Emberiza hortulana

1

1

Phalacrocorax aristotelis desmarestii

1

1

only record 1963

Phalacrocorax pygmeus

1

1

Branta ruficollis

1

1

new species

Tadorna ferruginea

1

1

Accipiter brevipes

1

1

Buteo rufinus

1

1

Aquila heliaca

1

1

Tetrao tetrix tetrix

1

1

not confirmed

Dendrocopos syriacus

1

1

Lanius nubicus

1

0

Hippolais olivetorum

1

1

Ficedula semitorquata

1

1

Aquila nipalensis

0

1

new species

Falco cherrug

1

0

Glareola nordmanni

0

1

last record 1964

Oenanthe pleschanka

1

0

two records in 1980's, possible missdetermination

Total

117

115


3.4.3. Emerald habitat types

The revised list of Emerald endangered natural habitat types (based on Resolution No. 4/1996) requiring specific conservation measures and present in the Republic of Macedonia is given below.

Table  5: List of Emerald habitat types

Code

Habitat types

15.115

Continental glasswort swards

15.A

Continental salt steppes and saltmarshes

22.11

Lime-deficient oligotrophic waterbodies

22.412

Frogbit rafts

22.415

Salvinia covers

22.416

Aldrovanda communities

24.2

River gravel banks

31.46

Bruckenthalia  heaths     

34.3

Dense perennial grasslands and middle European steppes

34.5

South-eastern deciduous thickets

41.1

Beech forests

41.2

Oak‑hornbeam forests

41.4

Mixed ravine and slope forests

41.5

Acidophilous oak forests

41.7

Thermophilous and supra-Mediterranean oak woods

41.8

Mixed thermophilous forests

42.17

Balkano-Pontic fir forests

42.244

Pelagonide spruce forest

42.5C

South-eastern European Scots pine forests  

42.62

Western Balkan Pinus nigra forests

42.7

High oro-mediterranean pine forests

42.A

Western Palaearctic cypress, juniper and yew forests

44.1

Riparian willow formations

44.7

Oriental plane and sweet gum woods

44.8

Southern riparian galleries and thickets

44.9115

Eastern Carpathian alder swamp woods       

53.3

Fen-sedge beds

54.12

Hard water springs

54.2

Rich fens

54.5

Transition mires

65.

Caves

93

Wooded steppe


Table  6 : Draft List of identified habitat types from the Habitats Directive - Annex I

CODE

Habitat types

1310

Salicornia and other annuals colonizing mud and sand

1530

Pannonic salt steppes and salt marshes

3140

Hard oligo-mesotrophic waters with benthic vegetation of Chara spp.

3150

Natural euthrophic lakes with Magnopotamion or Hydrocharition-type vegetation

3220

Alpine rivers and the herbaceous vegetation along their banks

3230

Alpine rivers and their ligneous vegetation with Myricaria germanica

4060

Alpine and Boreal heaths

5110

Stable xerothermophilous formations with Buxus sempervirens on rock slopes (Berberidion p.p.)

5130

Juniperus communis formations on heaths or calcareous grasslands

6170

Alpine and subalpine calcareous grasslands

6210

Semi-natural dry grasslands and scrubland facies on calcareous substrates (Festuco Brometalia)(*important orchid sites)

7210

Calcareous fens with Cladium mariscus and species of the Caricion davallianae

7220

Petrifying springs with tufa formation (Cratoneurion)

7230

Alkaline fens

8140

Eastern Mediterranean screes

8210

Calcareous rocky slopes with chasmophytic vegetation

8220

Siliceous rocky slopes with chasmophytic vegetation

8310

Caves not open to the public

9110

Luzulo-Fagetum beech forests

9180

Tilio-Acerion forest of slopes, screes and ravines

91B0

Thermophilous Fraxinus angustifolia woods

91E0

Alluvial forests with Alnus glutinosa and Fraxinus excelsior (Alno-Padion, Alnion incanae, Salicion albae)

9250

Quercus trojana woods

9260

Castanea sativa woods

9270

Hellenic beech forests with Abies borisii-regis

9280

Quercus frainetto woods

92A0

Salix alba and Populus alba galleries

92C0

Platanus orientalis and Liquidambar orientalis woods (Platanion orientalis)

92D0

Southern riparian galleries and thickets (Nerio-Tamaricetea and Securinegion tinctoriae)

9410

Acidophilous Picea forests of the montane to alpine levels (Vaccinio-Piceetea)

9530

(Sub-)Mediterranean pine forest with endemic black pines

9560

Endemic forests with Juniperus spp.

6220

Pseudo-steppe with grasses and annuals of the Thero-Brachypodietea

6430

Hydrophilous tall herb fringe communities of plains and of the montane to alpine levels

7140

Transition mires and quaking bogs

7210

Calcareous fens with Cladium mariscus and species of the Caricion davallianae


4. Selection of potential ASCIs

Based on the criteria listed in Recomendation No. 16 (1989) for the selection/designation of potential Areas of Special Conservation Interest (ASCI), in the Third Phase of development of the Emerald Network in the Republic of Macedonia, ten potential ASCIs were selected:

1.      Mavrovo National Park

2.      Shar Planina

3.      Matka - Monument of Nature

4.      Alshar

5.      Belchishko Blato

6.      Bogoslovec

7.      Monospitovsko Blato

8.      Orlovo Brdo

9.      Smolarski Vodopad - Monument of Nature

10.    Markovi Kuli - Monument of Nature

Together with the areas designated under the pilot-project and the Second Project, they reflect about 80% of the total of 16 proposed Emerald Network sites in the Republic of Macedonia. The sites are rather diverse in size and cover about 198.145 ha of surface area. The smallest one is about 810 ha (Smolarski Vodopad) and the largest, about 73.088 ha (Mavrovo).

The distribution of the sites is shown on the map below (Figure 2).


Figure 2: Map of distribution of proposed Emerald sites

Prepared by the GIS Office, MEPP

5. Regional meeting of experts for development of the Emerald Network

This meeting was organised on 10-11 July 2006 in Ohrid, Republic of Macedonia, within the CARDS programme for the implementation of the Second Phase of development for the Emerald Network in the Western-Balkan countries. The participants of the meeting were representatives from the following countries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro and experts from the Council of Europe (Mr. Marc Roekaerts) and European Environmental Agency (i.e., European Topic Centre for Biodiversity) (Mr. Carlos Romao and Mr. Lauri Klein).

The aim of the meeting was to evaluate the progress of the implementation of Emerald projects, to have a direct discussion concerning technical aspects and common problems, to agree upon remaining steps to be taken until the end of this Second Phase (end of 2006)and to obtain valuable information on the criteria and evaluation process of Natura 2000.

At the beginning, the representatives of all countries presented their progress and the status of implementation of the project. The common problems identified during the project activites were: lack of data for species and habitats and lack of GIS data. Thus, there is a need for inventory work and mapping on species and habitats.

Consent was given for the number of species (10-15) and habitat types (5) for which distribution data was to be collected, including five species and two habitat types that are common to all six countries.

All countires have shown greatinterest in looking at transboundary sites between the countries and gaining access to Natura 2000 data from neighboring EU countries.

Concerning Natura 2000, interesting and useful information about the evaluation process was presented. There is also a need for such an evaluation process for the implementation of the Emerald Network. Because this process is resource demanding and time consuming, it will be necessary for some additional explanation of the evaluation process during future meetings and workshops.

Participants noted that sufficient funds should be allocated to support work toward the Emerald Network and Natura 2000 in the future.

The report of the regional meeting was presented during the Joint Meeting of the Group of Experts for the development of Pan-European Ecological Network and the Committee of Experts for the development of Emerald Network, in October 2006 in Strasbourg.

6. GIS maps

According to AA-1 and AA-2, the expected outputs of the project were to include the development/preparation of GIS maps with digital boundaries of the proposed sites and  the preparation of distribution maps for the selected species and habitats.

Distribution maps were prepared for the following species: Canis lupus, Ursus arctos, Lutra lutra, Rupicapra rupicapra, Spermophyllus citellus, Ciconia nigra, Alcedo atthis,  Aythya nyroca,  Falco naumanni,  Neophron percnopterus, Mauremys caspica, Vipera ursinii, Testudo graeca, Aldrovanda vesiculosa, Marsilea quadrifolia andBuxbaumia viridis and habitat types: Beech forests, Continental glasswort swards, Continental salt steppes and saltmarshes, Aldrovanda communities and High oro-mediterranean pine forests.

During the regional meeting of experts for development of the Emerald Network of the Balkan countries, it was agreed that the National teams would prepare distribution maps for five species (Canis lupus, Ursus arctos, Lutra lutra, Ciconia nigra, Alcedo athis) and two habitat types (Beech forests and Eutrophic humid grasslands) common to all Western Balkan countries participating in the project.

For the habitat type Eutrophic humid grasslands, a distribution map was not prepared because the habitat has not been sufficiently investigated in the Republic of Macedonia and, thus, it is not possible to present the precise areas of its distribution with certainty.

The boundaries of the proposed ASCIs were prepared by hand-drawing on scanned topographic maps. Except for the Markovi Kuli site, for which digital boundaries were established during the process of preparing documentation for re-proclamation of the area as a national category monument of nature, detailed field trips were conducted and aerial photos procured.

7. Identified problems and future plans

The main problems identified during the implementation of the Third Project include:

-       Lack of scientific data for important Emerald species

-       Assessment of population size based not on regular monitoring but partial survey/projects and expert judgment

-       Lack of GIS distribution data for species and habitats

-       GIS boundaries – based on hand-drawn maps

-       Land ownership data

The described problems indicate directions for future activities geared toward development of the Emerald network, such as identification of new areas, collection of scientific data on the species and habitats (establishment of monitoring systems), habitat mapping, development of precise digital boundaries for the proposed areas through field activities, development of detailed species and habitat distribution maps, as well as presentation of the Emerald network, increasing public awareness, etc.

The Republic of Macedonia, through the Ministry of Environemnt and Physical Planning, is strongly committed and intends to proceed with activities aimed at the future development of a National Emerald Network. Such activities are essential because they represent important preparatory work needed in order to create a basis for the future designation of Natura 2000 sites and the achievement of early compliance with the Habitats and Birds Directives.

Undertaken activities will provide important contributions to the process of integration of the Republic of Macedonia into the European Union.