Beyond the red light
By Faktoje
Photographs: Atdhe Mulla
Blistering heatwaves, powerful floods, terrifying wildfires, and prolonged droughts are
catastrophic episodes that have been warned about. The natural balance has been disrupted, and
all living beings are suffering. Hundreds and thousands of people have lost their lives. Every year
on planet Earth, natural disasters are recorded, whether foreseen or not, and Albania is part of it.
Rising temperatures leads to disease and poverty, therefore urgent measures are necessary. We
have traveled to several different places in Albania to illustrate the actual dimensions of climate
change, as well as human irresponsibility. We bring forward testimonies and facts that clearly
prove nature does not forgive. It suffers in silence, then comes back powerfully, still silent. Many
years ago, the alchemists claimed: water, earth, air, fire, and ether are the five fundamental
elements of life, which ancient medicine, philosophy, and science have considered essential for
preserving the balance of life.
WATER
BETWEEN DROUGHT AND FLOOD
Great Prespa, the lake that’s fading away
Once, the calm waves of Great Prespa Lake gently touched the shores of Kallamas. Today, you see dry fishing nets, boats overturned in the mud, and a receding waterline that shrinks day by day.
'Just imagine how much more it will drop when the heat hits, because not a single centimeter of new water has arrived'. Koço Trajçe, former fisher from Kallamas.
The water is evaporating. The level of Prespa’s lake water has reached its lowest point in recent centuries, marking an alarming drop of over 11 meters. Prespa lake has lost more than 50% of its volume.
‘The lake has lost about 7% of its surface area and half of its volume between 1984 and 2020. This significant decline is closely tied to climate change, says Emanuela Kiri, Hydrogeologist at the Institute of Geosciences.
This year is expected to be even more critical for the lake. In the first three months alone, the water level dropped by 10 to 15 cm.
'Turn your eyes toward the lake'. Spase Tërpo, Monitoring Hydrobiologist in Prespa.
At the edge of one of Europe’s most ancient lakes, an elderly community watches how their watery past turns to mud beneath their feet.
‘When the heat and drought come, I dread to think what we’ll be seeing…’, Koço Trajçe, former fisher from Kallamas.
FLOOD
Uncontrolled water destroys
In the very place where water shortages bring crisis, its flooding at other times devastates homes, farmland, and the economy. Floods in the western lowlands have left behind significant damage and losses.
'Every time the river comes, my land is the first to flood'.
-Bardhi, resident of Darragjat
The Drin River, once a source of life, now brings fear. The opening of dams, heavy rainfall and unregulated construction have transformed entire hectares into swamps.
'Logging is the main cause of the flooding. Water pours freely toward the fields', Lavdosh Ferruni, Environmental Expert.
‘Logging is the main cause of the flooding. Water pours freely toward the fields’,
Lavdosh Ferruni, Environmental Expert.While experts warn of increasing danger, residents are left unprotected and frequently without compensation.
‘Once flooded, land is never the same again’. -Lavdosh Ferruni
In one corner of Albania, a lake fades away. In another corner, the river floods the lands. In both cases, humans and climate are dissolving nature’s limits. Interventions remain limited, responses slow and the consequences grow deeper.
LAND
ON THE BRINK OF THE ABYSS
Land that is being swallowed up, forests disappearing
Albania is no longer 28,000 square kilometers. The sea has taken over the land, while hundreds of thousands of hectares of farmland, pastures, meadows, and riverbanks have vanished due to erosion.
'Erosion has affected around 350,000 hectares of agricultural land (more than 50% of it), resulting in a total loss of 60 million tons of solid material'. Prof. Dr. Gjoka, Agricultural University
A piece of Albania, like fertile fields, pastures, and the banks of the Drin River, is stripped every year by a ‘fire’ without flames: erosion. The Ionian Sea has ‘swallowed’ hundreds of hectares of coastline, while rivers, exploited for gravel extraction and uncontrolled hydropower plants, leave behind barren land.
'There are large landslides in Middle Bastari. Even the remaining houses are at risk'. - Kalem Koçi, local resident.
More than nature itself, human activity has placed Albania on the red risk map, about 11 times higher than the EU average.
‘In the last 25 years, phenomena such as uncontrolled river exploitation by hydroelectric plants, deforestation and lack of investment in embankments have led to a high risk of landslides and loss of agricultural land’. – Prof. Dr. Fran Gjoka.
Hundreds of meters of land have been submerged beneath the waves of the Ionian and Adriatic seas. Year after year, the sea has destroyed the natural coastline by swallowing hundreds of hectares of land in various areas.
‘The sea is swallowing half of our coastline because we have not been able to invest in coastal protection’. – Ilir Brasha, Expert on Economy and Environment.
It takes 100 to 400 years to form about 1 cm of soil capable of supporting plant life and life on land overall.
DEFORESTATION
The biting away of the planets’ lungs
Nine years after Albania introduced a forest moratorium aimed at improving and restoring forest conditions, the situation is still deeply concerning.
Forests are the ‘lungs of the planet’. Their destruction leads to rising global temperatures and worsens climate change’. Gavrosh Zela, Environmental Expert
Illegal logging and fire damage continue to have a negative impact, undermining efforts to preserve forests. On paper, forest surface area increased slightly from 2010 to 2022, but tree volume dropped by more than 30%.
'We have more young forests due to natural forestation in abandoned villages, but their density is very low'. - Prof. Dr. Elvin Toromani, Faculty of Forestry
Where once tall pines grew, with thousands of cubic meters of timber, now the mountain peaks appear bare, overrun with shrubs.
Wildfires are causing devastating damage, rapidly destroying forest ecosystems.
Over 185,000 hectares of forest and pasture have burned in Albania over the last decade. The country has experienced 943 fire outbreaks, made worse by rising temperatures.
‘Climate change is now noticeable within a single generation. In the past, it took several generations to see its effects’. Lulëzim Shuka, Professor of Natural Sciences, University of Tirana.
For this reason, the future does not bring solutions, but repetition, with even bigger flames.
‘This year won’t be any better, maybe even worse!’ – Abdulla Diku, Forestry Engineer
Deliberate fires: beware of the silent arsonists
Hundreds of wildfires are deliberately set. Over the past ten years, more than 250 criminal proceedings for arson have led to no real punishment.
‘No one will be caught or punished because no one punishes themselves for a cold-blooded crime. Whoever has the money can buy anything, even the judge’, -Abdulla Diku, Forestry Engineer.
DELVINA ASHES AND DUST
Zjarri na dogji edhe shpresën!
The shocking testimonies of the residents, who seem to have taken on the gray color of a burned town, revealed the powerlessness of state structures to minimize the catastrophic damage of the fire that devoured everything in just a few hours.
"To tell the truth, there was effort to save people and houses, but intervention should have come earlier from the air." - insists a citizen
“The square in front of the Municipality filled with many people; it was the only place that was temporarily not threatened by the fire. Great chaos and fear — people were asking others if they had seen their relatives. It couldn’t have gotten any worse.”
– says Gëzim Lame, a resident of Delvina and the owner of a café near the Municipality
“To tell the truth, there was effort to save people and houses, but intervention should have come earlier from the air.”
– insists a citizen
In Delvina, nothing is as it once was! Hundreds of traumatized residents, children and women who fled in panic from the source of terror, six homes burned, thousands of olive trees reduced to ashes, vineyards turned into embers, and vegetation wiped out.
WHEN THE HEAT KILLS PRODUCTION
‘Agriculture is like a house without a roof: the climate burns its ceiling; politics breaks down its door’. – Altin Ibrahimi, farmer from Pojan, Korçë.
Monday is ‘bean day’ for most Albanian families. A tradition passed down through generations, more resilient than any agricultural policy in the country. But this year, the plates are being filled with beans from Egypt. Korça, once the pride of Albanian beans, is now surrendering to the climate, the lack of policies and emigration.
'From 4 hectares, I only harvested 600 kg of beans. I used to get this amount from just 2 hectares', - Altin Ibrahimi, farmer from the village of Pojan, Korçë.
The beans didn’t survive the heat, and instead of harvesting them in Korçë, we now unload them at the port. 90% of the beans sold in Albania’s market now come from Egypt.
‘We’re increasing consumption, but not production. We keep importing more, from Africa to the Balkans, – Ilir Pilku, Agricultural Policy Expert.
Albania is also facing sudden shocks from extreme weather, such as hail and floods, which devastate agricultural yields.
'Hail damaged 400 nectarine plants. Last year I harvested 200 quintals. This year, zero. I’ve never seen such a storm,' -Rito Hamataj, agronomist from the village of Kafaraj, Fier.
While farmers count their losses, the Ministry of Agriculture has no concrete data on the damage.
‘It’s time to properly assess the climate change process, because the number of farmers going bankrupt may increase’, – Agim Rrapaj, Albanian Agribusiness Council.
IN EVERY CORNER OF IT, ALBANIAN SOIL HAS A STORY TO TELL
THE THERMAL PLANT THAT THREATENS THE HEART OF AGRICULTURE
In the heart of one of Albania’s most fertile agricultural zones, a gas-powered thermal plant is being constructed. Surrounded by 200 hectares of greenhouses, Roskovec risks becoming a symbol of pollution rather than productivity.
The government calls the power plant a ‘leap into the future’, but for local farmers, it’s a step backward toward extinction.
‘We’ve built this life through hard work and sweat’, – Tofik Metushi, local resident.
Tofik doesn’t speak like an activist. He speaks as a man who has planted every inch of his land with his own hands and now, with a heavy voice, asks: ‘Who will buy our products tomorrow, when the name of our village becomes linked with gas and pollution?’
'If the thermal plant is built, everything will end. It’s a catastrophe for us',
-Tofik Metushi, local resident.
Rather than clean energy, what’s being delivered is a ‘climate blow’ backed by the state.
‘They manipulated the data. Pollution levels were reported 75 times lower than reality, just to claim compliance with standards’, – Gjergj Simaku, Energy Expert.
The European Commission has expressed concern about the power plant. Brussels reminds Albania that, as an EU candidate country, it must conduct scientific environmental impact assessments and ensure public participation.
Put simply: a thermal power plant should not be built in secrecy in one of the nation’s key agricultural zones.
'An alternative photovoltaic investment would cost less, have a smaller environmental footprint, and help meet the EU Directive on Clean Energy and Climate',
– Eduard Gjokutaj, Energy Expert.
SHARRA, WHEN WASTE KNOCKS AT YOUR DOOR
On the outskirts of Tirana, an entire community lives among trash. The waste landfill in Sharra has expanded right up to residents’ windows, while the promised incinerator remains nothing more than a ghost on paper.
'Around 1,000 tons of waste are dumped here daily from five municipalities. We’re reaching the end of our storage capacity'. - Indrit Karaj, State Administrator of 'Integrated Energy'.
Residents no longer know what they’re inhaling: the air or the lies.
‘The pit came to my door; I didn’t go to it’. – Durim Zeneli, resident of Sharra.
Durim returned from emigration in 2007–2008. With the money earned in Greece, he built a home in what was then a clean, distant area. ‘I used to see Mount Prush from here’, he says. Now, his house stands just a few meters from the ‘new cell’ where tons of garbage will be dumped.
‘We keep the windows. We don’t want anything else, just to get away. But who would want to live in garbage?’ says Durim, with despair.
The new waste pit, already built, has the capacity to last only one year. A temporary delay, not a solution.
‘They’ll budget again for waste disposal. Because the waste management chain begins in your home and mine, and it’s never been taken seriously in Albania’. Olsi Nika, Environmental Expert, Eco Albania.
The pollution is far from the homes of those in power who once promised to eliminate waste, but it remains ever-present for the people of this village.
AIR
IN THE SPIRAL OF EXTREME HEAT
Albania, shifting from a mediterranean to a subtropical climate
Since 1994, Albania has committed to the fight against climate change. Limiting temperature rise has been one of the main goals, a battle that over these three decades has felt like fighting windmills.
On January 20, air temperatures in Tirana hit 20°C, a full 8.4 degrees higher than the historical average.
‘The average maximum air temperature in January, based on the multi-year average from 1961–1990, is around 11.6 degrees’, Dr. (K). Eng. Anira GJONI, environmental expert, Department of Meteorology, Institute of Geosciences.
The year 2024 turned out to be ‘the year of hell’. But forecasts suggest that this year, too, could be among the hottest ever recorded.
'In the last two decades, years have generally been hotter than normal',
-Tanja Porja, meteorologist.
THE URBAN ISLAND OF TIRANA
Lacking green areas, parks, promenades, or gardens, Tirana is undergoing a phenomenon known in climate studies as the ‘urban heat island’. The capital registers temperatures up to 5°C higher in densely built zones compared to surrounding areas.
‘The increase in urbanization and the absence of green spaces are the main factors behind the formation of urban heat islands’, explains Anira Gjoni from the Institute of Geosciences in Tirana.
Another factor contributing to the temperature rise is the obstruction of air currents that once flowed from Mount Dajti toward the coast, now blocked by tall and densely packed buildings.
'From five-story buildings, we’re now seeing towers and structures many times taller', Olsi Nika.
Every new building adds pressure to this heat island, eliminating shade and worsening the city’s microclimate.
‘This isn’t the case in other parts of the country, where urban development has remained more or less the same over the years’, Petrit Zorba, Professor at IGEO.
As climate change pushes temperatures higher and no effective measures are taken, Tirana risks becoming a concrete ‘oasis’ where air quality declines further, putting public health at serious risk.
WHEN THE AIR BECOMES AN ENEMY TO HEALTH
For 21 years, Lumturi Hysenllari has suffered from bronchial asthma, but in the last five years living in Tirana has significantly worsened her condition.
'In Tirana, it’s hard to breathe in every season. Along with the inhaler and medicines, now that spring is coming, I need injections that aren’t reimbursed. I buy them and inject them myself',
she says.
Lume’s story is just one among thousands of examples showing how climate change is directly affecting our health. Heatwaves have become more frequent and prolonged, causing serious health issues for the population.
Up to 400 additional deaths per year are expected due to extreme heat in Albania.
‘If Albania experiences several heatwaves each year, as is expected in the near future, we could face up to 400 additional deaths just from the heatwaves’, – Alban Ylli, Doctor from the Institute of Public Health.
Climate change is no longer just an environmental issue; it’s a direct threat to life.
'A LIGHT IN THE CLIMATE DARKNESS'
The silent battle for the chestnut
In the northern edge of Albania, where the mountain and forest coexist with poverty and pride, a group of girls is leading a quiet yet determined fight to save what has been the treasure of generations: the Tropoja chestnut. The chestnut forest of Tropoja is under threat from an invasion of millions of so-called Asian insects. The situation is serious.
Almost half of the district’s chestnut trees have been affected by the insect, which attacks the buds and eats the leaves as soon as vegetation begins, blocking photosynthesis.
This year’s production didn’t exceed three hundred tons, while Tropoja usually doesn’t fall below fifteen hundred tons’, says Valter Milushi, a local trader.
Mirjeta Imeraj, a 33-year-old biology teacher, together with several other women, is cultivating a different army of insects, an even larger, helpful one, designed to target and eliminate the destructive Asian pest.
