EUR31163

Soil health in the Western Balkans
Zdruli, P.; Wojda. P. & Jones, A.
2022
EUR 31163 EN
This publication is a Technical report by the Joint Research Centre (JRC), the European Commission’s science and
knowledge service. It aims to provide evidence-based scientific support to the European policymaking process.
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Contact information
Name: Arwyn Jones
Address: European Commission Joint Research Centre, Sustainable Resources Directorate – Land Resources Unit,
Via Fermi 2749, 21027 Ispra (VA), Italy
Email: arwyn.jones@ec.europa.eu
Tel.: +39 0332 789162
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JRC130276
EUR 31163 EN
PDF ISBN 978-92-76-55210-9 ISSN 1831-9424 doi:10.2760/653515
Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 2022
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Cover photograph by Pandi Zdruli.
Zdruli, P.; Wojda. P. & Jones, A., Soil health in the Western Balkans, EUR 31163 EN, Publications Office of
the European Union, Luxembourg, 2022, ISBN 978-92-76-55210-9, doi:10.2760/653515, JRC130276
Contents
Abstract ............................................................................................................... 1
Acknowledgements ................................................................................................ 3
1 Introduction ...................................................................................................... 5
1.1 Why this report ........................................................................................... 5
2 Status of soil health across Western Balkans in 2020 ............................................. 9
2.1 Geomorphological setting, climatic conditions, and associated soils .................... 9
3 Methodology ................................................................................................... 15
4 Summary of the study results ........................................................................... 19
4.1 Regional status.......................................................................................... 19
4.1.1 Summary of the existing data ............................................................. 19
4.2 Status of soil health indicators in the Western Balkans: .................................. 20
4.2.1 Soil nutrients and Nitrate Vulnerable Zones ........................................... 20
Albania ....................................................................................................... 23
Bosnia and Herzegovina ............................................................................... 24
Kosovo ....................................................................................................... 25
Montenegro ................................................................................................ 27
North Macedonia ......................................................................................... 28
Serbia ....................................................................................................... 28
4.2.2 Organic carbon .................................................................................. 29
Albania ....................................................................................................... 31
Kosovo ....................................................................................................... 32
Montenegro ................................................................................................ 34
North Macedonia ......................................................................................... 37
Serbia ....................................................................................................... 38
Peatlands ....................................................................................................... 39
4.2.3 Water Erosion.................................................................................... 41
Albania ....................................................................................................... 42
Kosovo ....................................................................................................... 47
Montenegro ................................................................................................ 48
North Macedonia ......................................................................................... 49
Serbia ....................................................................................................... 50
4.2.4 Compaction ....................................................................................... 52
4.2.5 Pollution including risks to food ........................................................... 52
Albania ....................................................................................................... 55
i
Kosovo ....................................................................................................... 61
Montenegro ................................................................................................ 63
North Macedonia ......................................................................................... 64
Serbi a ..................................................................................................... 65
6. Soil sealing and net land take ........................................................................ 66
4.2.6 Salinization ....................................................................................... 72
4.2.7 Desertification ................................................................................... 74
4.2.8 Soil biodiversity ................................................................................. 74
4.2.9 Soil biodiversity ................................................................................. 75
5 Conclusions .................................................................................................... 76
References ......................................................................................................... 77
Annex 1. Synthesis of final methodology and metadata for spatial evidence ................ 87
Some recommendations for the use of soil health indicators for soil monitoring ... 90
List of figures ...................................................................................................... 92

List of tables ....................................................................................................... 94
ii
Abstract
This study is a compilation of evidence to support the development of a soil component for
a JRC Science for Policy Report on the “Status of Environment and Climate in the
Western Balkans” 1. This document attempts to benchmark a range of issues affecting
soil health with considerations on the accession progress for an eventual Soil Health Law
under the 2030 Soil Strategy.
The outcomes reported here are based on a literature review of 139 sources, bilateral
exchanges with national soil experts in all Western Balkans countries, and on the personal
experience of the authors. It should be emphasised that current data are scarce, and as
such, the results should be considered as a primarily assessment and not definitive.
Based on the results of this study it is concluded that soil degradation is prevalent and
extensive throughout the Western Balkans region. Soils are under pressure, but the
intensity of various soil health indicators varies between them and among the countries.
Climate change was not part of this study. Nevertheless, its impacts will be relevant in the
coming decades, if not preventive mitigation, remediation, and adaptation actions will be
needed to lessen their impacts.
With relevance to soil health indicator 1 “Soil nutrients and Nitrate Vulnerable
Zones”, it is estimated that the area of agriculture land affected due to an imbalance of
direct inputs of nutrients in agricultural systems (excluding air pollution issues) to be in
the range of 5.15% of the total agriculture area.
Regarding soil health indicator 2 “Organic carbon” it is estimated that the area of land
affected due to low and declining of carbon stocks to be in the range of less than 5% of
the total land area of the region and about 10% for agriculture land.
Soil health indicator 3 “Soil erosion” is the most relevant and aggressive process. It is
estimated that the area of agriculture land with failure due to water erosion to be
in the range of 30% while about 45% of the total land area is affected by soil
erosion.
Data are not available on the extent and degree of soil health indicator 4
“Compaction”. Except for very few sporadic case studies in Serbia, no other sources are
available. Therefore, it is suggested that soil compaction should be included without delay
in both national and EU research programmes.
Soil health indicator 5 “Pollution including risks to food” is very relevant in the
Western Balkans where a total of 2 735 contaminated sites are reported. However, the
general consensus is that this is an under estimation. This is the result of mining and
industrial activities and, to a lesser extent, from agriculture practices. However, their areal
extent is unknown, expect for a few countries. Some soils are also naturally contaminated
with heavy metals due to the geological characteristics of their parent materials.
Contamination and waste management remain problematic as relevant data are
scarce or often lacking entirely. They include local hotspots (e.g., ex-industrial land,
landfills, military compounds, etc.), agricultural land (pesticides, metals, sewage sludge,
plastics) as well as unquantified emerging pollutants.
A preliminary assessment of soil health indicator 6 “Soil sealing” in the Western Balkans
shows that 0.87% of the total land area in the region is artificially covered.
Agriculture land appears to have experienced the biggest loses. Land take and sealing is
driven by rapid economic expansion and housing needs.
Soil health indicator 7 “Salinisation” was combined also with sodicity and a special soil
type typical for the Western Balkans or the magnesial rich soils, locally known as Smonitsa
or Chromic Vertisols characterised by their very dark colour and high clay content. They
cover large areas in Serbia, North Macedonia, and Albania and are being cultivated for
many years, despite their poor chemical and physical properties. Salinity in the region is
1
https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC129172
1
both caused by natural conditions and unsustainable irrigation practices. Overall, it is
estimated that these areas cover just under than 10% of the whole territory of the
Western Balkans.
Regarding soil health indicator 8 “Desertification” none of the countries meet the
criteria of aridity index as described by the UNCCD, but they all have signed the
Convention. In Albania and Montenegro, about 25% of the territory is estimated
be subject to desertification. Furthermore, land degradation in the general context is
present in all the countries with soil erosion as the most prominent factor affecting
large areas (overlap with soil health indicator 3).
No data were available for soil health indicator 9 “Soil biodiversity”.
Organic farming in the Western Balkans covers only 2.56% of the total farming area,
which very low compared with the EGD target to make 25% of the farming in the EU
organic by 2030.
The region has a total population of 17.4 million inhabitants that have great aspirations for
EU membership. Among other benefits, the proximity with the EU is expected to boost also
sustainable soil management. But this would be possible when Western Balkans soil
scientists would be further integrated with the EU soil science community, especially
through greater involvement in the European Soil Partnership. The positive experience of
the European Soil Bureau Network (ESBN) coordinated by JRC could be re vitalised. Soil
data in many countries are obsolete and the only new regional source is the
LUCAS survey of 2015. This brings to the attention for new national soil survey
campaigns and the start without delay of a further LUCAS Soil exercise throughout
the region to facilitate data comparisons and establish trends in monitoring. Training
of new young soil scientists should also be encouraged as their number is rapidly
decreasing.
It is unfortunate that the Western Balkans countries are not eligible for funding through
the EJP SOIL Initiative. In that context the JRC could play a more prominent role in the
region by supporting these countries to enhance their research capacities and bring them
in line with other EU peers.
In conclusion, it is very difficult to make a regional assessment on the extent of unhealthy
soils in the Western Balkans. The overwhelming literature review conducted in this study
points out that soil erosion is the most relevant degradation process followed by
soil pollution. All other factors are present but with a lesser extent and intensity.
Unsustainable land management practices and natural causes of soil degradation are
interlinked and is very hard to make a distinction between them. The 2030 EU Soil Strategy
has set a vision for healthy soils for 2050. Therefore, the countries of the Western Balkans
should align their soil protection policies through improving legislation and enforcing its
implementation.
2
Acknowledgements
The JRC wishes to acknowledge the high level support provided by Prof. Pandi Zdruli
CIHEAM Bari, Italy in the preparation of this report.
We would like to especially acknowledge the support and data provided by Ilir Salillari
(Albania), Damir Behlulovic (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Afrim Sharku and Idriz Shala
(Kosovo), Mirko Knezevic (Montenegro), Dushko Mukateov (North Macedonia) and
Dragana Vidojevic (Serbia).
The authors would also like to acknowledge the support, patience and enthusiasm of
Claudio Bellis from the JRC’s Air and Climate Unit (Directorate for Energy, Transport and
Climate) in the overall coordination of the Green Deal for Western Balkans Project.
Authors
Zdruli, P.; Wojda. P. & Jones, A.
3
4
1 Introduction
1.1 Why this report

The six countries of the Western Balkans (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo 2,
Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia) are at different steps in their way to joining the
European Union. However, before joining, they must align and implement their legislations
with the EU “acquis” or the accumulated legislation, legal acts, and court decisions that
constitute the body of the EU laws.
Figure 1 The location of Western Balkan countries
Source: Google Maps
The adoption, implementation, and enforcement of the EU acquis on Environment is an

obligation for accessing countries in the framework of the stabilisation and association
process. This implies reducing the emissions of pollutants and GHG as priorities, which are
strongly interlinked with energy, transport, and land use policies.
2
This designation is without prejudice to positions on status and is in line with UNSCR 1244/1999 and the ICJ
Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence.
5
The Green Agenda for the Western Balkans, envisaged by the European Green Deal (EGD),
details five pillars of action targeting: (1) climate action, (2) circular economy, (3)
biodiversity, (4) fighting pollution of air, water, and soil and (5) sustainable food systems
and rural areas. Digitalisation will be a key enabler for the above five pillars in line with
the concept of the dual green and digital transition.
Based on the EGD targets, soil condition is recognized as a vital element of these five
pillars. In particular:
• the vision for healthy soils being developed under the EU Soil Strategy and Legally
Binding Soil Restoration Targets that are being developed under the Biodiversity
Strategy,
• the EU Climate Law notes the need for increased sequestration of organic carbon
by agricultural soils as a major component of climate regulation and in mitigation
of the effects of emissions,
• more efficient nutrient cycles and reduction in soil sealing are explicit objectives of
the Circular Economy Action Plan,
• a Soil Pollution Watch List together with a Clean Soil Monitoring and Outlook Report
are foreseen under the Zero Pollution Action,
• sustainable agriculture objectives under the Farm2Fork Strategy are built on
balanced soil nutrient management and the reduction of pesticide residues in soil,
• research and innovation challenges set by the Soil Mission under Horizon Europe.
Soil erosion and overall land degradation are considered severe problems in many areas
around the Western Balkans (WB), especially for the mountainous regions. The JRC
estimates that soil erosion affects more than 20% of the combined Serbian and
Montenegrin territory while Albania is losing between 20 and 70 tonnes per hectare of soil
annually (Kovacs et al., 2012). Combating land degradation and restoring degraded land
include sustainable food production, improved and sustainable forest management, soil
organic carbon management, ecosystem conservation and land restoration, reduced
deforestation and degradation, and reduced food loss and waste.
Countries in the Western Balkans could undertake actions to address soil degradation and
desertification which can offer co-benefits also for other key environmental issues such as
water pollution and scarcity, and biodiversity loss, as mentioned also in the EU Soil
Thematic Strategy. As a unique and complex ecosystem, soil provides an array of goods
and services that are vital for life on the planet, but soils are under pressure along with all
the organisms living within it.
Besides providing food, fresh water, protection from floods and storms, healthy soils
mitigate natural disasters, pest, and diseases, contribute to regulating the climate change,
combating land degradation and enhance food security. The main challenges at the
regional and national level are related to the lack of political commitment to improve
implementation of soil and related policy instruments, which are hampered by a lack of
financial resources to establish a current and policy relevant knowledge base. In this
context, Western Balkans partners are encouraged to align their policies to the EGD
Strategies and to support the EU position at upcoming international negotiations on the
global post-2020 biodiversity framework.
The EU Soil Thematic Strategy identified a series of pressures that affect soil condition.
These include erosion, compaction, sealing, salinization, landslides, and pollution (both in
a local and diffuse sense), which in turn affects soil organic matter levels and soil
biodiversity. Pressures acting on the soils of the EU, together with their impacts, are
described in more detail by (Jones et al., 2012; FAO & ITPS 2015; Montanarella and
Panagos, 2021a; Montanarella and Panagos, 2021b).
These are taken further by a new Soil Strategy for 2030, published in 2021 and entitled
“Reaping the benefits of healthy soils for people, food, nature and climate” (EC 2021). The
6
Strategy sets out a framework for protecting, restoring and the sustainable use of soils.
The vision of the Strategy is that by 2050, all EU soil ecosystems will be in a healthy
condition in order to fully address the major societal challenges of achieving climate
neutrality and becoming resilient to climate change, developing a clean and circular bio-
based economy, reversing biodiversity loss, safeguarding human health, halting
desertification and reversing land degradation.
In this respect, understanding the health of a soil is highly relevant. Degraded soils have
partially or completely lost their capacity to provide the functions and services listed above.
In some cases, the adoption of sustainable soil management practices can lead to a full
recovery after some years (e.g. in case of loss of carbon and biodiversity or compaction
and erosion of the top fertile layer). In other cases, active restoration measures are needed
for sometimes only partial recovery (e.g. for sealed, desertified, salinised or acidified soils).
In some cases, degradation can be irreversible in terms of human timescales.
A key element of the Strategy is the proposal for a Soil Health Law (by 2023), which aims
to specify the conditions for a healthy soil, determine options for monitoring soil and lay
out rules conducive to sustainable soil use and restoration. It is clear that compliance with
the expectations of this legislation will have to be considered by Western Balkan countries.
A significant step forward in the EU is also the proposal for a dedicated Mission on Soil
Health and Food named “A Soil Deal for Europe”, with a target to more than double the
extent of healthy soils across the EU through a greater uptake of sustainable soil
management measures, driven by respective policy frameworks. A key success of the
Mission proposal and implementation plan was based on an evidence collection study on
an analysis of the state of soil health in Europe, reflecting a range of pressures on soil (see
Annex 1 3).
This report aims to support the JRC’s efforts to fill information gaps on soil health condition
across the Western Balkans based on an extensive review of the current evidence base of
the state of WB soils. The purpose is to identify the main pressures affecting soil health at
country and regional level, also highlighting the best management practices and policy
areas of concern. The study will complement a parallel exercise to map relevant soil policy
targets in the EGD.
Data to characterize the overall state of pressures on soils in the Western Balkan region
are largely lacking (e.g. diffuse soil pollution, compaction), making it difficult to quantify
the geographical extent of the pressures or to establish quantitative trend assessments of
overall soil health. The assumption is that all soils are under pressure, even if only
considering indirect pressures, from air pollution and climate change. However, soil
pollution, compaction and secondary salinization are probably the biggest unknowns. Soil
pollution includes both local hotspots (e.g. ex-industrial land, landfills, etc.) and more
widespread contamination reflecting inputs from air pollution legacy, agricultural land use
(pesticides, metals, sewage sludge) as well as other unquantified sources.
3
https://ec.europa.eu/info/research-and-innovation/funding/funding-opportunities/funding-programmes-and-
open-calls/horizon-europe/eu-missions-horizon-europe/soil-health-and-food_en
7
This report attempts to provide relevant evidence for each country and at the regional level
to:
• Examine the relevant evidence base for soil degradation in the Western Balkans
(based on scientific publications, policy reports, relevant datasets)
• For all countries of interest, report the area of land (and % of any relevant area,
e.g. croplands) with failure of soil health indicator, for the following issues that are
singly, or in combination, resulting in a decline in soil condition and health:
o Soil nutrient assessments (e.g. Gross Nutrient Balance, excess
nitrogen/vulnerable zones, phosphorus)
o Organic carbon fluxes (in organic soils and cropland mineral soils)
o Erosion (by water and wind, coastal erosion, agricultural land under severe
erosion)
o Compaction
o Pollution (local and diffuse – with as much breakdown as possible, evidence on
microplastic and emerging containments would be appreciated) and waste
streams with relevance to soil
o Soil sealing and net land take
o Salinisation
o Desertification
o Pressures on soil biodiversity
8
2 Status of soil health across Western Balkans in 2020
2.1 Geomorphological setting, climatic conditions, and associated

soils
The Western Balkans region is made of a variety of landscapes, great lithological and
geomorphic diversity that ultimately is reflected in the formation of very different soil
types.
Figure 2 Simplified geological map of the west-central Balkan Peninsula, showing major tectonic
zones and ophiolite occurrences.
Source: Dilek et al., 2007.
9
In most parts of the Western Balkans, agriculture is the most important branch of economy.
For centuries, farmers have used the high natural potential of the region for agricultural
activities. This is illustrated by the fact that the share of the agricultural area is around
21% of the overall territory of the region.
The loess deposits of the Pannonian plain expanding largely in Serbia, and to lesser extent
in Bosnia and Herzegovina, host some of the most fertile soils of Europe (Fig. 3). It is
exceptional that some of the thickest European loess areas are recorded here reaching
depths of 100 m in places (Koloszar, 2010; Sümegi et al., 2018), preserving a quasi-
continuous paleoenvironmental record extending back to the Early Pleistocene (Buggle et
al., 2013; Markovic et al., 2011, 2015; Schaetzl et al., 2018). The research in the Middle
Danube Basin has provided important contribution to loess research (Markovic et al., 2016;
Obreht et al., 2019). These loess deposits are inter merged with alluvial depositions of the
Danube River within which Serbia has about 10.2% of its territory, Bosnia and Herzegovina
4.6%, while Montenegro, North Macedonia, Kosovo and Albania less than 1%.
Figure 3 Fertile soils derived from loess on the Pannonian plain in Serbia
Source: Wikipedia, public domain
Other important geomorphologic formations are the karsts, particularly distributed in

Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and to a lesser extent in Albania and North
Macedonia. For instance, the Trebišnjica in Bosnia and Herzegovina is one of the largest
sinking rivers in the world; one of its effluents, Ombla, springs out of a huge cave near
Dubrovnik in Croatia and then drains into the Adriatic Sea.
These limestone karstic structures have been unequally uplifted with altitudes varying
between 1 300 m above sea level in Kotor (Montenegro) to 200 m in the eastern part to
the country. Overall, the topography in the limestone areas is karstic, heavily fractured by
10
tectonic events with many dolines, sharp ridges, and residual reliefs in the weathered
limestones. On the bottom of the dolines and karstic depressions, small villages, farms,
and rural communities are concentrated while the highest heigh of the massive Dinaric
Alps is 2 694m (Maja e Jezerces) in Albania.
Furthermore, some still active glaciers were discovered in Albania on 15 September 2007,
making it one of the southernmost glaciers of the European continent (Lenaerts, et al.,
2013).
The flat lands of western coastal plains of Albania were formed mostly during the
Quaternary period due to the alluvial depositions of seven rivers draining into the Adriatic
and Ionian Seas. They form the largest alluvial plains of the Western Balkans, after the
Danube basin. Instead, the Montenegrin coast is more fragmented with ranges of karst
mountains that often show up right from the coast.
Other important flat lands typical of a graben formation are in the fields of Kosovo. With
exception of Albania and Montenegro (Bosnia and Herzegovina have only 10 km coast),
Serbia, Kosovo and North Macedonia are landlocked countries. The biggest lakes are
Shkoder (bordering Albania and Montenegro), Ohrid (border Albania and North Macedonia)
and Prespa (bordering Albania, North Macedonia, and Greece).
Climate varies from typical Mediterranean along the coasts (dry and hot summers and wet
mild winters) with continental climate conditions in the uplands and higher mountain
ranges (Fig. 4).
11
Figure 4 Climatic conditions in Europe. Mean annual air temperature on the upper part and annual
precipitation in the lower map. Note the higher temperatures along the Mediterranean coast and the
higher precipitation in the border between Albania and Montenegro. In Montenegro at the village of
Crkvice (940 m above sea level), an annual rate 7 000 mm has been recorded making it the rainiest
place in Europe.
Data adapted from Karger et al., (2017).
12
The soils of the Western Balkans are the result of the pedogenetic process with lithology,
topography and climate playing a dominant role as soil forming factors. The large diversity
is represented by Cambisols, Luvisols, Chernozems, Kastanozems, Phaeozems, Umbrisols,
Fluvisols, Gleysols, Histosols, Arenosols, Calcisols, Leptosols, Regosols, Vertisols,
Solonchacks, Solonetz, Anthrosols, and Technosols (Fig. 5).
Figure 5 General representation of the soil distribution in the Western Balkans. (The red line shows
the delineation of the Mediterranean watershed).
Source: Soil Atlas of Europe (Jones A, Montanarella, L, Jones R. 2005)
Cambisols, Luvisols, Chernozems, Kastanozems, Phaeozems, Umbrisols, and Fluvisols are

very fertile soils, typical for flatlands as well as uplands and used mostly for cereals,
horticulture, fruit trees, vines, and forage crops providing higher yields even with minimum
inputs. But they are under pressure from urban expansion, soil sealing, compaction,
pollution and (perhaps) over fertilization causing chemical pollution.
Leptosols and Regosols are mostly located in the uplands and the mountain regions. They
are often covered with forests, shrublands and natural pastures. Erosion and landslides are
a problem, exacerbated by forest fires, and overgrazing. Histosols cover relatively small
areas, Arenosols usually follow the coastal sand dunes, Solonchacks and Solonetz most
widely found in Albania, North Macedonia, and Serbia, while Vertisols are also evident
throughout the region. Gleysols have limited extent typically found in former drained
wetlands and in depressions while Calcisols usually are found in the hilly areas of Albania,
Montenegro and at limited extent all over the region. Large parts of them are used for the
cultivation of olive groves and vines.
Finally, Anthrosols and Technosols cover limited areas compared to other soils but are
widely distributed in the vicinity of the large urban areas as the best testimony of the urban
sprawl.
13
14
3 Methodology
This report was prepared following the methodology described by the Soil Health and Food
Mission “Caring for Soil is Caring for Life” Annex 1 4, primarily based on literature review
and on the personal knowledge and experience of the authors. An important relevant
source of information was derived from a Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale
Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH funded study conducted in 2016 (Zdruli and Cukaliev, 2016)
to establish the Areas with Natural Constraints in the Southeast Europe: Assessment and
provide Policy Recommendations that was published by the Regional Rural Development
Standing Working Group (SWG) in South-Eastern Europe based in Skopje, Macedonia.
Seven experts were identified in all the countries included in the study. They are
acknowledged at the beginning of this report. The data required were designed as given in
Tables 1 and 2. Data sources came from national statistics and expert assessments. Should
be noted that these types of data are scattered throughout the region and their availability
depends on each country. The most problematic remains Kosovo due to many reasons, as
extensive soil data are still at the archives in Serbia. On the other side there are countries
like Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia that have better data in terms of availability
and quality, but to a lesser extent in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Another crucial problem derives from the fact that soil classification and laboratory
analyses have been performed with different methods and systems that often are not
compatible with the ones used in other parts of Europe, typically the Western countries. A
harmonisation effort was made during the preparation of the Soil Atlas of Europe (Jones et
al, 2005) but due to its scale of 1:1 million the representativity of the Western Balkans
soils is rather limited. This has also caused a “black hole” in several JRC publications with
the Western Balkan countries missing to be part of these studies.
The implementation of the LUCAS sampling campaign in 2015 in the region was an
important step forward. Yet not a comprehensive report has been published to report the
results of these data. Nevertheless, the JRC will be conducting another parallel study to fill
in this gap. The other shortcoming comes from the fact that in the absence of at least two
LUCAS sampling cycles data comparison becomes impossible and the assessments do not
clearly point the trend in soil health indicators. Monitoring also becomes very difficult, if
not irrelevant.
It is for these reasons, and maybe more, that the region has an urgent need to boost soil
surveys, collect new soil samples, to enhance soil laboratories, train staff, especially young
technicians, and a new generation of pedologists, as they are almost becoming “extinct”.
It is very important to start as soon as possible LUCAS2 soil sampling campaign. The
process will be much easier since the georeferenced sites are already inserted into the
national and JRC databases and the sampling campaign will be smoother.
4
https://ec.europa.eu/info/publications/caring-soil-caring-life_en
15
Table 1 Summary of land use/land cover for the Western Balkans countries as of 2020
Agriculture land1 Organic Forest and areas Permanent Other areas3

(against total territory)
farming2 with forestry meadows and (against total territory)
biomass pastures
(against total including shrubs
Countries Pop. Area agric. land) (against total territory)
Cropland Permanent Total (against total territory)
million km2
crops
(cropland and
permanent crops)
km2 % km2 % km2 % km2 % km2 % km2 % km2 %
Albania 2.8 28748 6143.5 21.4 846.5 2.9 6960.0 24.3 6.5 0.1 10771.1 37.5 4780.8 16.6 6236.1 21.6
Bosnia & 3.3 51130 12288.6 24.0 54.6 0.1 12343.3 24.1 9.0 0.1 31263.2 61.1 6505.8 12.7 1101.0 2.0
Herzegovina
Kosovo 1.8 11000 3109.6 28.3 206.5 1.9 3316.1 30.1 1.6 0.1 4500.0 40.9 1550.0 14.1 1633.9 14.9
Montenegro 0.6 13888 92.1 0.7 26.6 0.2 118.7 0.8 8.7 7.3 8275.4 59.6 2082.3 17.5 3066.7 22.8
North 2.0 25436 4130.5 16.2 401.3 1.6 4531.8 17.8 39.6 0.2 11534.5 45.4 8038.1 31.6 1292.0 5.2
Macedonia
Serbia 6.9 88407 25699.3 29.1 2062.3 2.3 27761.6 31.4 212.6 7.7 28500.0 32.2 6753.1 7.6 25399.3 28.7
TOTAL 17.4 218609 51463.7 19.9 3597.9 1.54 55031.5 21.44 278.0 2.64 94844.2 46.14 30055.0 16.74 38731.8 15.94
Notes
1
Agriculture land includes cropland (i.e., cereals, industrial such as sugar beet, sunflower, horticulture in open field and greenhouses, forage
crops), and permanent crops (fruit trees, olives, vineyards, citrus).
2
Data from ‘The World of Organic Agriculture, Statistics and Emerging Trends 2020’ FiBL/FOAM
3
Includes land occupied by buildings, infrastructure, quarries, tracks, ponds, water bodies, infertile land impossible for agriculture use, rocky
areas, etc. Sealed areas cover a small fraction, but mostly in the best soils of the country.
4
Weighted percentages at regional level considering the countries surface areas.
Source: National Statistics and information provided by national experts acknowledged in this report.
16
Agriculture land coverage at country level (%) Coverage of forest and areas with forestry biomass including
shrubs at country level (%)
24.21%
31.40% 32.24% 37.47%
45.35%
24.14%
17.82% 61.14%
0,85
30.15% 59,59
40.91%
Albania Bosnia & Herzegovina Kosovo
Montenegro North Macedonia Serbia Albania Bosnia & Herzegovina Kosovo Montenegro North Macedonia Serbia
Regional land use land cover (%)
Cropland
Coverage of permanent meadows and pastures 15.87%
19.93%
at country level (%) Permanent crops
7.64% 16.63%
Organic farming
16.69% 1.50%
31.60% 12.72% 2.56% Forest and areas with forestry
biomass including shrubs
Permanent meadows and
14.09% pastures
Other areas
17.48% 46.11%
Albania Bosnia & Herzegovina Kosovo

Montenegro North Macedonia Serbia
17
Table 2 Summary of soil health indicators and their pressures on agriculture land for the Western Balkans countries
Soil health indicators: pressures on agriculture land
Excess Soil Organic Compaction Erosion Pollution Saline- Soil Soil Desertif Pressures on
use of N1 Carbon Acidity: sealing ication soil
losses from2 Soda- and land biodiversity
Countries Agriculture fication ≤5pH take
land Water wind topsoil
(2000 -
>10t/ha/yr 1
2020)
Mineral Org
soils anic
soils km2 %
kg/ha/yr-1 ha km2 %
km 2 km2
km 2
km2 km2 % %
Albania 6 960 N/A 5 959 100 N/A 93 N/A N/A 420 900 5004 25.0 N/A
Bosnia & 12 343 N/A 12 282 6.2 N/A 80 N/A 3000 N/A 8 500 70 - N/A
Herzegovina
Kosovo 3 316 N/A 3316 - N/A 60 N/A N/A - N/A 10 N/A N/A
Montenegro 119 N/A N/A - N/A 90 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
North 4 532 N/A 4 532 - N/A 90 N/A 430 713 326 362 13.7 N/A
Macedonia
Serbia 27 762 N/A N/A N/A N/A 86 853 324 2 330 N/A 134 N/A N/A
TOTAL 55 032
Notes
1
Provides the extent both in open fields and greenhouses. The indicator Gross nutrient balance expressed as nitrogen added to and removed from agricultural land
2
Estimates the extent of SOC losses both in mineral and organic soils due to unsustainable management practices and/or natural conditions
3
refers to Vojvodina
Compaction, pollution (local and diffuse) and salinization/sodification, magnesial soils (Smonitsa) on existing data or estimates.
Soil sealing and land take data for the 2000-2020 period. 4 For Albania, the area refers to the period 1990-2020
Estimates the percentage of agriculture land affected by desertification based on the aridity index and land degradation impacts on the reduction of land to fulfill ecosystem
functions
18
4 Summary of the study results
The proposal for a Soil Health and Food Mission 5 put forward the goal to make at least
75% of the EU soils healthy by 2030 since between 60-70% of them are already unhealthy
due to mismanagement or poorly quantified pollution sources. However, to reach this goal
would require: “a radical change in current land management practices that is both feasible
and necessary. Soils will also benefit from improvement to indirect drivers of change such
as reductions in air pollution and carbon emissions”.
The situation in the Western Balkans (WB) regarding soil health remains largely unknown
as recognised also by the European Environment Agency (EEA) in their SOER2020 report.
Therefore, this study provides some first insight inputs to shed light on the present
situation of soil health at regional and country level. As previously mentioned, results
should be taken as preliminary and not final due to the data quality and their availability.
Nevertheless, the study was able to provide a general overview of the soil health in the
Western Balkan region as it is described in the following sections.
4.1 Regional status
4.1.1 Summary of the existing data

• The Western Balkans land area is: 218 609 km2 with a population of 17.4
million people
• Agriculture area 6 in WB: 5 503 154 ha or 21.44% of the land area
• Forests and areas with forestry biomass including shrubs: 9 484 417 ha of the
46.11% of the land
• Pastures and meadows cover: 3 005 501 ha of the 16.69% of the land area
• Croplands occupies 5 146 367 ha of the 19.93% of the land area
• Artificial areas occupy less than 1% of the total land area of the Western Balkans
• “Natural soils” (i.e., without intensive management regimes) cover about 80% of
the Western Balkans (includes forests, pastures, and meadows).
5
http://ec.europa.eu/mission-soil
6
Cropland and permanent crops, without including pastures and meadows
19
4.2 Status of soil health indicators in the Western Balkans:
4.2.1 Soil nutrients and Nitrate Vulnerable Zones
It is estimated that the area of agriculture land with failure of soil health
indicator due to direct inputs nutrient issues in agricultural systems
(excluding air pollution) to be in the range of 5.15% of the total agriculture
area.
Fertilizer use is a necessity to allow farmers to maximize their yields on most conventional
farms. But historically, their use has also created problems: fertilizers have facilitated
large-scale monocultures, disrupted ecosystems, and largely minimized the need to
monitor long-term soil health. Furthermore, from a practical perspective, over-fertilizing
crops can lead to unintended consequences. A growing body of research suggests that in
addition to downstream “dead zones” and algae blooms, excess fertilizer can often also
hurt crop yields, especially crops like wheat and corn, during droughts because of soil
eutrophication—a build-up of nutrients that lets plants grow so quickly, they can obstruct
themselves out. Moreover, excess fertilizer applied during a drought year can create a
boom-and-bust season because of the crops’ struggle for water (Van Sundert, et al., 2021).
Finally, there is widespread agreement that the use of nitrogen fertilizers in still growing
around the world’s farming, at a time when the average global efficiency of its use is
stagnant, and hence the surplus nitrogen that is not taken up by crops is also growing at
a troubling rate (Sasakova et al., 2018; Zhang et al., 2021; Chang et al., 2021).
The standard procedure for estimating the nutrient balance in the EU agriculture soils is
the Gross Nutrient Balance Indicator (EUROSTAT 2020) that provides insights into the links
between the use of agricultural nutrients, their losses to the environment, and the
sustainable use of soil nutrients resources (Häußermann, et al., 2020). It consists of the
Gross Nitrogen Balance and the Gross Phosphorus Balance and is intended to be an
indicator of the potential threat of surplus or deficit of two important soil and plant nutrients
in agricultural land. It shows the link between agricultural activities and the environmental
impact, identifying the factors determining the nutrients surplus or deficit and the trends
over time.
Nitrogen (N) and Phosphorus (P) are key elements for plants to grow. A persistent deficit
of these nutrients can lead in the long-term to the so-called process of nutrient mining
causing soil degradation and erosion. When N and P are however persistently applied in
excess, they can cause surface and groundwater (including drinking water) pollution and
eutrophication. The Gross Nitrogen Balance also includes Nitrogenous Emissions from
livestock production and the application of manure and fertilizers.
Scattered available data for the WB show that the largest amounts of fertilisers, especially
N are applied in the greenhouses followed by open field horticulture crops. Based on this
assumption, the total area of greenhouses and horticulture crops (Table 3) was calculated
for the whole region totalling 286 444 ha (or about 5.20% of total agriculture land).
This was based on reported data for the years between 2016 till 2020 depending on the
country’s national statistics. It appears that North Macedonia has the largest surface area
covered by greenhouses and open fields horticulture when compares with the rest of the
countries.
It is finally stipulated (due to missing data) that these types of land uses (Table
3) are subject to nutrient imbalances and vulnerable to nutrient contamination
due to overuse of chemical fertilisers.
20
Table 3 Total area of greenhouses and horticulture crops
Country Greenhouses Horticulture crops Total

(ha) (ha) (ha)
1 Albania 1 750 41 000 42 750
2 Bosnia and Herzegovina 715 75 000 75 715
3 Kosovo 413 28 191 28 604
4 Montenegro 48 4 125 4 173
5 North Macedonia 6 622 59 000 65 622
6 Serbia 60 69 520 69 580
TOTAL 9 608 276 836 286 444
Other farmland uses including cereals, industrial such as sugar beet and sunflower, as well
as forage crops, and permanent crops (fruit trees, olives, vineyards, citrus) that cover 5
503 154 ha (or 94.85%) of the total agriculture area of the WB overall are not subject
of over fertilization.
Nitrate Vulnerable Zones (NVZ)
The European Commission (EC) Nitrates Directive requires that areas of land that drain
into waters polluted by nitrates to be designated as Nitrate Vulnerable Zones (NVZs).
Farmers with land in NVZs must follow mandatory rules to tackle nitrate loss from
agriculture. It is well known that Nitrogen, apart from agriculture crops, is also vital for
aquatic ecosystems, supporting the growth of algae and plants which provide food and
habitat for fish and smaller organisms that live in the water. But too much nitrogen in
water can result in serious environmental and human health issues.
The most appropriate assessment of NVZs for the Western Balkans is to concentrate on
the Danube River basin. According to several calculations, the total nitrogen emissions in
the basin are about 600 000 tons per year. This assessment comes from the MONERIS
(MOdelling Nutrient Emissions in RIver Systems) 7 water quality model which has been used
for the entire basin and for hydrological conditions of the period 2009-2012 to estimate
spatial patterns of nitrogen emissions in the basin and assess the various contributing
pathways. Subsurface flow is the most important pathway for nitrogen emissions,
responsible for about 50% of all nitrogen emissions. Diffuse inputs dominate the basin-
wide nitrogen emissions– with roughly 80% of the total load. Emissions from point sources,
such as wastewater treatment plants and industrial dischargers, contribute 20% of the
total load.
The main emission sources are agricultural fields with 40% of the total load. Urban areas
– such as wastewater discharges, runoff from paved surfaces and combined sewer
overflows – as well as natural lands where atmospheric deposition provides nitrogen input
are significant source areas as well. Several implemented measures have substantially
reduced nitrogen inputs into surface waters and groundwater in the Danube River Basin,
but further efforts are still needed. The long-term average for the period 2003-2012 of
observed nitrogen river loads at the mouth of the Danube is about 500 000 tons per year.
Due to the larger part of the Danube basin inside its territory, it is estimated that among
the six Western Balkan countries, Serbia should have the largest contribution of N
discharge, which nevertheless is very limited compared to the nutrient loads coming from
all other countries that drain their waters into the basin
Scattered data for Albania have estimated that in only one year erosion washes away 1.2
million tons of organic carbon, 100 000 tons of nitrate, 60 000 tons of phosphates, and 16
000 tons of potassium (Laze and Kovaçi, 1996). Other studies (Qilimi, 1996) showed that
7
https://www.icpdr.org/main/publications/nitrogen-pollution-danube-basin
21
soil fertility declined mainly in organic matter content, nitrogen, and potassium compared
to 20 years ago, resulting in nutrient mining of the soils.
To further reduce nitrogen pollution, wastewater treatment plants must be upgraded with
nitrogen-removal technology, however measures to introduce best practices in agriculture
and land management are especially needed, since diffuse pathways make up a major part
of the total nitrogen emissions. A key set of best agricultural practices related to farming
and land management has been identified, which are in line with the provisions of the EU
Nitrates Directive and the pillars of the Common Agricultural Policy in the EU Member
States. In addition to regulatory actions to comply with basic standards, economic
incentives for farmers can ensure higher efficiency and better practical performance in
implementing measures. However, further efforts are needed to achieve better use of the
available financial instruments and to appropriately finance and implement agricultural
measures.
Figure 6 Different sources of Nitrogen load into the Danube River basin
Source: Draft DRBM Plan – Update 2015
The general understanding is that due to economic costs, fertilizer use, especially Nitrogen
is used in excess primarily in greenhouses and open fields vegetable crops, and much less
to other crops.
22
Albania
Natural soil constraints in Albania have been identified as saline and sodic soils (about 10
000 ha, even though recent estimates point out at about 30 000 ha), 60 000 ha alkaline
soils mostly in the western coastal area, acidity (or low pH) in about 90 000 ha, largely
distributed in the north-eastern part of the country, magnesial (serpentine) soils in about
12 000 ha and heavy clay soils covering 60 000 ha (Zdruli, 2005; Zdruli et al., 2002).
When considering agriculture practices related to nutrient management sporadic data show
that for 2019 there were deficits for: N -104.8 kg ha -1, P -8.7 kg ha -1 and for K -134.5 kg
ha -1 (Gjoka et al., 2021) making Albania one of the countries with the largest soil nutrient
deficit compared to the EU and OECD countries (Fig. 6). This deficit is mainly due to the
application of small amounts of chemical fertilizers. Therefore, it appears that there are no
environmental pressures or potential risk of pollution at nationwide scale.
Figure 7 Amount of NPK (kg/ha) of cropland from chemical fertilizers. Note the drastic decline after
the political change of 1990.
Source: Gjoka et al., 2021
Figure 8 Temporal variability of NPK input, output, and balance for agriculture crops in Albania for
the period 1950-2019.
Source: Gjoka et al., 2021
23
However, these risks have been documented in the greenhouses and to a lesser extent in
open field horticulture crops that are over fertilized with Nitrogen. Instead, Phosphorous
and Potassium are used in much lower amounts and do not pose risks of contamination.
The other issue is that farmers rely mostly on intuition when applying fertilisers. A survey
carried out in 2017 (Gjoka et al., 2021) with farmers that grow watermelon in open fields
as well as vegetables in greenhouses revealed that only about 25% of them have carried
out soil and water analysis. That is worrisome both for the long-term use of the costly
greenhouses, but also for the uncertainty of fertiliser use that remains largely not
scientifically based. This has increased N accumulation in the soil and groundwater inside
these greenhouses. Furthermore, there are already tens of hectares of greenhouses that
are experiencing increased salinisation also due to poor quality irrigation water.
Furthermore, the other issue is the inappropriate manure storage with Nitrates’ losses
into water bodies. Likewise, pesticides are representing a threat for water quality, but data
are missing to make the proper estimates.
Bosnia and Herzegovina

World Bank data for the fertilizer consumption in Bosnia and Herzegovina pointed out that
it fluctuated substantially in recent years, nevertheless it tended to increase through 1999
- 2018 period ending at 84.8 kilograms per hectare in 2018. Compared to the EU countries
this value is far below the average use of fertilisers in the EU. As in the case of Albania,
the environmental risk of degrading soil health due to over fertiliser use in Bosnia
and Herzegovina remains low.
Figure 9 Fertiliser consumption in Bosnia and Herzegovina for the period 2007-2018. Note the
descending trend after the year 2015.
Source: http://knoema.com
24
Kosovo
Kosovo has undergone profound changes over the past decade. The legacy of prolonged
civil unrest, conflict and war is perhaps most apparent in the field of agriculture. The restart
of Kosovo’s agriculture after a decade of neglect and depredation suffered during the
violence caused by the war is now a priority for the Kosovo government.
To analyse the nutrient dynamics a first assessment of the natural conditions was made.
Climate in Kosovo is continental in the east with an average of 660 mm of annual rainfall
and 170–200 frost free days while the south-east is influenced by Mediterranean (wetter)
climate with 780 mm and a warmer 196–225 frost free days (World Bank, 2000).
Agriculture contributes to about 30% of GDP in Kosovo and supports about 60% of the
population currently. The agricultural share of GDP increases to 35% when forestry is
included (Statistics Office of Kosovo, 2001).
According to the data from agricultural questionnaires conducted by the Kosovo Agency of
Statistics, in 2019 were used about 76 467 tonnes of fertilizers that contain nitrogen (NPK,
UREA and ALN), which is higher than previous years. However, compared with the period
2012-2014 there were about 6 100 tonnes less fertilizer used, indicating lower risks of
contamination.
Figure 10 Trends in fertiliser use for the period 2004-2019 in Kosovo
Source: Kosovo environment 2020 report
Figure 11 presents the trend of Nitrate Nitrogen concentration (mg / l) in surface waters
(rivers) for the period 2008-2019. The figure shows that the nitrogen concentration of
Nitrates during this period is between 0.658 mg / l, as the lowest value recorded in 2009,
and 1.181 mg / l as the highest value recorded in 2018. The year 2019, marks an increase
in concentration (1.100 mg / l) compared to 2018 (0.814 mg / l). In general, the trend of
this indicator for the period 2008-2019, is linear with some small changes with increasing
trend for the years 2008, 2013 and 2019.
25
Figure 11. Nitrogen concentration (mg/l) in surface waters of Kosovo
Figure 12 presents the trend of phosphorus orthophosphate concentration (mg / l) in

surface waters (rivers) for the period 2008-2019. The figure shows that the Phosphorus
orthophosphate concentration during this period is between 0.118 mg / l, as the lowest
value recorded in 2013, and 0.265 mg / l as the highest value recorded in 2019. The year
2019 marks an increase in concentration compared to 2018 (0.126 mg / l). In general, the
trend of this indicator for the period 2008-2019 is presented with oscillations (ups and
downs) and there is no linear flow.
Figure 12 Phosphorus concentration in surface waters for the period 2008-2019
The area cultivated with vegetables and the greenhouses were considered as potentially
vulnerable and they were included in the total area of the region.
26
Montenegro
In 2018, fertilizer consumption for the country was 246.8 kilograms per hectare and for
the period 2009 – 2018 there was a constant tendency of increase (Figure 13). When
compared to other countries globally, Montenegro ranks at the 27th stage, which is quite
high even when compared to EU countries. Despite data not being available to estimate
the nutrient balance, as previously mentioned, the area covered by greenhouses and
vegetables were included in the assessments as potentially overloaded particularly with
Nitrogen and therefore vulnerable to pollution.
Figure 13 Fertiliser consumption and worldwide ranking of Montenegro for fertiliser use.
27
North Macedonia
North Macedonia is a landlocked country on the Balkan peninsula with a total area of 25
710 km² making it the 17th smallest country in Europe and ranked 150th in the world. It
lies at an average elevation of 741 meters above sea level. The highest mountain peak
(Golem Korab) is at 2 764 meters. The country has 10 140 km² of agricultural land that
includes also pastures and meadows, which is almost 39% of its territory. Half of this land
is devoted to crop growing, and the other half livestock farming.
In 2018, fertilizer consumption for North Macedonia was 60.8 kilograms per hectare which
is one of the lowest in the region. The tendency of fertiliser use shows a constant decline
since the year 2007, that, except for 2008, 2009, 2012, the value of 60.8 kg/ha is the
lowest in the last decade. Based on these data it is stipulated that the country do not
experience soil health problems related to nutrient imbalance, rather the soil fertility of
agriculture land could show signs of fertility decline due to nutrient mining.
Nevertheless, since North Macedonia devotes a considerable part of its territory to
agriculture, and agriculture related activities, this sector is responsible for 89% of annual
national ammonia (NH3) emissions due to animal husbandry and manure management. In
sporadic cases there is overuse of inorganic nitrogen fertilizer and manure additions to
soils. Pollution of soil and groundwater from agriculture from excessive fertilizer and
manure application, and irrigation with poorly treated wastewater is expected especially in
areas with high permeability karst geology. However, no monitoring has been done to
confirm the assumption (UNECE, 2019b).
Serbia
Serbia is the largest country in the Western Balkans and with the largest extent of the
agriculture land. The country has made progress towards adjusting its legislation with the
EU. One of them is the endorsement of the Nitrate Directive that has been partially
transposed into the Water Law and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water
Management (MAFWM) is the authority responsible for determining the vulnerable zones
and their boundaries, proposing for adoption of the action programmes with mandatory
measures for protected areas designated as vulnerable zones, as well as proposing the
adoption of the Code of good agricultural practice. Proposal for the Nitrates Vulnerable
Zones and draft of the Code of Good Agricultural Practice has been already developed.
Another piece of legislation in progress is the transposition of Directive 86/278/EEC on
the protection of the environment, and of the soil, when sewage sludge is used in
agriculture (Vidojevic et al., 2018).
Though Serbia fertilizer consumption fluctuated substantially in recent years, it tended to
decrease through 2009 - 2018 period ending at 72.9 kilograms per hectare in 2018.
Figure 14. Fertiliser consumption and worldwide ranking of Serbia for fertiliser use
28
Based on the data from Figure 14 the total amounts of fertilisers used in Serbia are far
below the EU levels. As for the other countries data availability of their use on various
crops are not available but as a general agronomic rule their excess use is often relevant
for the greenhouses and vegetables, therefore these areas were considered as potentially
vulnerable and were included in the regional estimation as well as at country level.
4.2.2 Organic carbon
It is estimated that the land with failure of soil health indicator due to low and
declining of carbon stocks to be in the range of less than 5% against the total land area
of the region and about 10% for agriculture land.
Even in the EU, despite detailed national SOC data sets are available, a consistent C stock
estimation at EU scale yet remains problematic. Data are often not directly comparable,
different methods have been used to obtain values (e.g., sampling, laboratory analysis)
and access may be restricted. Therefore, any evolution of EU policies on C accounting and
sequestration may be constrained by a lack of an accurate SOC estimation and the
availability of tools to carry out scenario analysis, especially for agricultural soils (Lugato
et al., 2013). Globally, the same problem is recognised and while there are many studies
on soil carbon sequestration, there is no single unifying volume that synthesizes knowledge
on the impact of different land management practices on soil carbon sequestration rates
across the world (The World Bank, 2012).
The main difficulty to assess the changes and trends in Carbon stocks in the Western
Balkans is the shortage of data and the missing points for comparisons. The LUCAS survey
of 2015 is the only soil survey implemented regionally. These data are still under the
scrutiny of validation, but they could not be compared with any previous data to check the
changes. Even so, the comparisons would have been almost impossible due to the
differences in laboratory analyses, lack of bulk density data, and the diversity of soil survey
methodologies. This brings to the attention for new national soil survey campaigns and the
start without delay of LUCAS2 in the region.
Based on these considerations, the only possible way to estimate both carbon stocks and
their trends is to overlay the only available regional soil map with the land use/land cover
systems. Starting from the soil name and the published references (FAO and ITPS, 2020)
a correlation could be made to estimate SOC stocks. At the best of consultant’s knowledge,
apart from the 1:1 million Soil Geographical Database for Europe 8 there is no other source
of regional soil information for the Western Balkans countries. However, this assessment
was not possible to be conducted in the frame of this contract. Nevertheless, it is estimated
that SOC stocks in the Western Balkans are far less compared with other parts of Europe,
especially the Northern regions that host large areas of peat soils (Figure 15).
8
EUROPEAN SOIL DATABASE (europa.eu)
29
Figure 15 Total SOC stocks (Pg) and mean SOC stocks (t/ha) per WRB name.
Source: FAO and ITPS, 202)
Figure 16 Topsoil (0-30 cm) SOCs of Europe. Large parts of the Western Balkans are not covered
due to lack of data. Carbon stocks are generally in the lower range.
Source: https://esdac.jrc.ec.europa.eu/themes/agricultural-soc-stocks
30
The following country descriptions are based on existing national data and literature
reviews.
Albania
A first assessments of the carbon stocks of Albania was made by Zdruli in 1996 reporting
about 0.2 gigatons. The largest stock is in the Cambisols (43%) because these soils have
the largest aerial extent, occupying much of the central part of the country. In the
Northern Albanian Alps, at elevations exceeding 1 500 m, the soils are shallow and have
an udic soil moisture regime (SMR) and a mesic to cryic soil temperature regime (STR)
according to Soil Taxonomy classification (Soil Survey Staff, 2014). Under these moisture
and temperature environments, SOC accumulation is high. These areas are also covered
mostly with forests and so the land is relatively undisturbed. Gleysols and Stagnosols are
common on the valley bottoms and these soils along with other wetlands also have high
SOC accumulations.
Luvisols and Phaeozems/Kastanaozems predominate on the flat to undulating landscapes
and altogether together contribute to about 34% of the total SOC stocks of the country.
However, these soils are under increasing pressure from agriculture, sealing and grazing.
Erosion rates are increasing and there is much loss of SOC. The Histosols occupy small
enclaves and though their presence is important for the watershed and the general ecology,
their total contribution of SOC to the national stock is not significant. Histosols cover a very
limited area of soils in Albania, moreover they have been totally drained and converted for
agriculture. Data show that the average SOC loss due to land reclamation, drainage and
cultivation in 38 years was as much as 80.6% for the top 0-30 cm depth or a rate of
decrease of 26g/kg/yr-1 (Zdruli et al., 1995).
Hills and mountains with shallow soils or with rock outcrops occupy about 32% of the total
land area. These lands have been denuded of much of their natural vegetation through
geologic processes and through accelerated erosion and forest fires. Nevertheless, recent
trends point to a quick recovery of the vegetation cover. This land unit only contributes to
about 13% of the total SOC. Agricultural lands occupy about 25% of the land area and of
this, about half is situated in inland valleys. These lands receive alluvium from the eroded
slopes of the hills and mountains and are thus continuously enriched in SOC (Zdruli, 1997).
According to FAO Global Forest Resources Assessment, 2015 - country report 9 (no recent
data available), Albania is sequestrating 142.2 million metric tons of total forest
carbon, out of which 49.3 million metric tons of carbon in living biomass and 67.3 million
metric tons of carbon in soils up to a depth of 30 cm.
Carbon stocks in Albania most likely have remained stable over the last three decades or
after the political change of the 90s. For instance, agriculture land is cultivated at around
50-60% capacity with the rest left fallow. It is well known fact that fallow land tends either
to increase carbon sequestration or at least C remains stable. Second positive fact is that
alfalfa has become the dominant crop in arable lands, enriching thus the soil with C and N.
Third consideration to be made is the extensive brush and shrub cover around the country
that has sustained rather stable conditions both in terms of SOC stock and erosion control.
On the negative side is the degradation of forests due to illegal cuttings and forest fires
that accelerated both erosion and carbon losses. Soil sealing and land take around big
cities have also reduced the potential for carbon sequestration.
It is then concluded that SOC stocks in Albania have remained stable and overall, the
soil health indicator related to declining Carbon is not critical for the country.
9 http://www.fao.org/3/az146e/az146e.pdf
31
Soil distribution in Bosnia and Herzegovina is closely related to geomorphology and relief.
Bukalo et al., (2016) have described the following pattern: The flat or lowlands zone is
found in the northern part and represents the most valuable land resources for food
production. The most common types of soil are: Stagnic Podzoluvisols, Fluvisols, Umbric
Gleysols and Eutric Gleysols. These are important carbon storage areas.
The hilly zone is more heterogeneous in terms of soil characteristics and subject to erosion
due to increasing slopes above 13%. The most common types of soil are: Chromic Luvisols,
Eutric Cambisols, Leptosols – Rendzic Leptosols and Vertisols. Soil Organic Carbon (SOC)
stocks are much limited compared to flatlands.
The mountain zone is mostly covered by forests and grasslands. As for sown crops, rye,
barley, oats and potato dominate. The most common types of soil are: Dystric Cambisols
and Dystric Regosols which are predominantly present, followed by Leptosols – Rendzic
Leptosols and Regosols. Country wide forests cover more than 3 million ha, or 62% of the
total land area, which is one of the highest forest coverage areas for a single country in
Europe. Forests are also important areas of carbon sequestration. They store consider
amount of SOC but the real data for the country are missing.
The Mediterranean zone, with its warmer climatic conditions, is suitable to grow a wide
variety of crops and support intensive farming, as well as traditional arable crops and early
vegetables. Fruit and vine-growing are also well developed here nicknaming this as the
“region of southern crops”. The most common soil types are: Lithic Leptosols, Regosols,
Leptosols – Rendzic Leptosols, Chromic Cambisols, Fluvisols in the river valleys, and
Umbric and Eutric Gleysols in the karst fields. In the swamps, Histosols are often present
despite in limited extent. SOC stocks in arable lands are lower compared with soils in the
karst region. This is a well-known process throughout the Mediterranean part of Europe
(Zdruli et al., 2004).
Data on country’s total SOC stocks are not available. Bogunovic et al., (2018) showed that
soils of the Livno karst polje depression had high average SOC (7.92%) and SOC stocks of
191.05 t ha−1 with Histosols having the highest stocks and Arenosols the lowest. Karst
covers 29% of the country’s territory, therefore is an important carbon stock.
As in the case of Albania, the soil health indicator related to declining Carbon appear
not to be critical for the country.
Kosovo
Kosovo borders Albania to the southwest, Montenegro in northwest, Serbia in the northeast
and North Macedonia in the south. The diversity of Kosovo’s soils reflects the variety of
landscape, geological composition, climate, hydrographic distribution, flora, and human
action. In terms of soil quality, the largest part of the territory (56%) is classified as poor,
29% as medium and only 15% of the country’s soils are ranked as good (Tahirsylaj et al.,
2016).
The first soil research started in the former Yugoslavia during the 50's that resulted with
the preparation of several soil maps of Kosovo at scale 1:50 000. Based on these maps
and some additional research, in 1974 was prepared the Pedologic Atlas of Kosovo (IDWR)
edited by the Institute "Jaroslav Cerni" of Belgrade, which included 101 systematic
mapping units providing data on soil texture, depth, and drainage conditions. Before the
Kosovo war of 1999, this atlas has been used as a main source for Agriculture Land
Suitability Classification system, where the agricultural land was divided into 8 classes.
This system was the basis of the state land taxation in agriculture and in same time served
as a source for definition of land use classification. After the war, with funding provided by
the EU the Atlas was updated with new data regarding soil texture, depth and drainage.
32
The climate in most part is continental, resulting in hot summers and cold winters, with
Mediterranean and continental influence (average temperature in the country ranges
between + 30 °C in summer and -10 °C in winter). However, due to uneven elevations in
some parts, there are variations in temperatures and distribution of precipitations (Fig.
17).
Figure 17 Mean annual temperature and average rainfall data for Kosovo
Source: Tahirsylaj, et al., 2016
33
Land use data are available from CORINE2012 as shown in Figure 18. From a total of 44
CORINE2012 classes in Kosovo are identified 28 of them. These are grouped into four main
classes. The largest area is dominated by forests and semi -natural areas (about 57%)
followed by agricultural lands (around 40%), while artificial lands cover 3.0% of the total
territory and the rest (about 0.3%) is classified as water bodies and wetlands (wetlands).
Data on SOC stocks are not available for Kosovo. Based on the logic that forests and natural
areas have the capacity to store more Carbon than arable lands, their large area must be
considered in any possible assessment. Flatlands of Fushe Kosova (Field of Kosovo) are
under arable farming, mostly cereals, and could be stipulated that SOC levels might be
reducing. It is then re-emphasized the need to invest in new soil survey programmes and
establish a soil monitoring system.
Figure 18 CORINE 2012 land cover for Kosovo
Source: Tahirsylaj, et al., 2016
Montenegro
Data for SOC stocks and trends in Montenegro for the period 2000-2010 were available at
the publication “Montenegro Land Degradation Neutrality Target Setting Process National
Report” prepared with the support of the Land Degradation Neutrality Target Setting
Programme (LDN TSP), a partnership initiative implemented by the Secretariat and the
Global Mechanism of the UNCCD (LDN, UNCCD, 2018). Data indicate that for the years
2000 and 2010 there was a loss of 800 ha of forests converted to shrubs as well as 1 700
ha of forests were converted to croplands. In total, 74 331 ha were found to be in three
JRC land productivity dynamics classes with negative connotation. Data on soil organic
carbon (SOC) were provided by ISRIC. The average SOC stock for the entire country is
125.1 t ha-1.
Data on soil organic carbon are provided by ISRIC – World Soil information. Data refer to
SOC stocks up to reference depth of 30 cm, in 250 m grids. Soil organic carbon stock (SOC)
in t/ha up to a depth of 30 cm is computed following equation of Poeplau et al., 2017 using
data on SOC content (%, weight), coarse fragments (volume partition), bulk density (tm-
3) and soil thickness (0.3 m).
34
Figure 19 presents soil organic carbon stocks for the territory of Montenegro in the year
2000. An average amount for the entire country is 125.1 t/ha. SOC stocks are the highest
in forests 129.9 t/ha, followed by shrubs, grasslands, and sparsely vegetated areas, 124.9
t/ha, and croplands 124.3 t/ha. SOC stocks for six main land use classes are presented in
Table 4. National data on soil organic carbon exist in the database of the University of
Montenegro – Biotechnical Faculty by means of humus content. These data are sometimes
very old and rarely georeferenced. These procedures rarely correspond to the
methodological approach of the LDN TSP. To produce SOC stock values some crude
assumptions were made which however create additional errors in data. This brings again
the need to embark in harmonised regional soil studies and assessments to fill in the
methodological shortcomings and poor quality of existing data.
Figure 19 Land productivity dynamics and soil organic carbon stocks in Montenegro
Source: LDN, UNCCD, 2018
It is important to say that a very large part of Montenegro territory is covered with rock
outcrops and coarse surface fragments, Nudilithic and Lithic Leptosols, shallow and/or
extremely gravelly soils (Fustic and Djuretic, 2000). A great gap in SOC assumptions is
evident on these areas. Changes in SOC for the two periods of time were given on a basis
of IPCC methodology (IPCC, 2006), which is related to land cover change. However, these
are very rough assumptions. Hence, the report of LDN, UNCCD, 2018 concluded that no
good quality data is available for the baseline period. Global SOC map of Montenegro
should be corrected using good quality national data obtained according to a common EU
methodology and including data for the last 10-15 years. ISRIC global data on SOC stocks
do not accurately present the actual situation, while national SOC stocks data should be
systematized to be presented spatially with a high degree of confidence.
Based on existing information is concluded that SOC values between 0 – 50 t/ha indicate
reduced soil structure conditions, fertility, and water retention. This class covers less than
5% of the country and has the highest risk of water erosion. Sustainable land management
(SLM) practices should include soil structure stabilization and keeping ground litter/cover
on the top surface, as well as implementing agro-forestry restoration and silvo-pastures.
35
Moderate soil structure, fertility and water retention are defined for the SOC class between
50 – 110 t/ha that covers the largest area of the country (more than 65%). These areas
are covered mostly with forests therefore sustainable forestry management and grazing,
along with agro-forestry measures should be implemented to maintain/improve SOC
levels.
SOC class between 110 – 200 t/ha covers the rest of the territory indicating good soil
structure, fertility, and retention, and within this class sustainable forestry, agroforestry
and grazing should be considered to maintain and enhance SOC stocks.
Nevertheless, due to the complexity of the landscape, climate conditions and soil cover in
Montenegro these SOC classes should be considered as rough assessments. They should
be better identified based within similar edaphic and orographic zones after a detailed soil
survey to collect new data.
Table 4 summarize the changes of net land productivity dynamics in Montenegro. Forests
followed by shrubs and grasslands hold the largest amounts of SOC. Instead, Table 5
provides the changes in SOC stocks based on land use/cover conversions for the period
2000-2010. As it seen there is a small difference of 0.03% in SOC stock changes. Since
no further data are available for the period 2010-2020 could be concluded that overall, the
situation of SOC stocks remains rather stable.
Table 4 Summary of sub-indicators of net land productivity dynamics in Montenegro
36
Table 5 Changes in SOC stocks based on land use conversions for the period 2000-2010
North Macedonia
The Republic of North Macedonia is a small (25 713 km2) landlocked country, located in
the middle of the Balkan Peninsula. It has a diverse topography with high mountains and
deep valleys, large and small natural lakes, and picturesque rivers. The agricultural land
covers about 18% of the surface area while forests and pastures/meadows cover the
largest part of the country. North Macedonia has a diverse climate, with eight climatic
regions. The average elevation is 829.7 m above sea level, while the mean slope is 15.10
for the 33.56% of the country’s territory. The dominant relief forms include hilly-
mountainous zone (44%), mountainous zone (21.3%) as well as the flat and flat-hilly zone
covering approximately 20% of the territory.
The different geological formations that change even on small distances in their age, as
well as mineralogical and petrologic composition, have resulted in high heterogeneity of
the soil cover that can be divided into four major zones: a) soils of the plains, b) soils of
the sloppy terrains, c) soils of the hilly terrains and lake terraces, and d) soils of the
mountainous regions (Aleksovska, et al., 2016).
Soils in the plains, are mostly represented by Fluvisols that are the dominant soil type
which as a separate cartographic unit covers 136 343.60 ha. (5.45%) of the country
territory. The complex of Vertisol+Hymic Calcaric Regosol + Leptosol covers approx. 133
542.20 ha (5.33%). In the dry flat bottom of some valleys there are also Salinic soils– with
about 13 863.22 ha. (0.55%).
Hilly areas and lake terraces which are spread just above flat bottom of the lowlands
are mainly under cover of the following soil types: Regosols which, as a separate
cartographic unit cover 108 291.60 ha (4.43%) and in complexes with Hymic Calcaric
Regosols, Leptosols, Molic Leptosols and Vertisols altogether cover an additional 100
768.70 ha, (4.03%). Vertisols, as a separate cartographic unit cover about 85 779.23 ha
(3.43%). Rendzinas (or Phaeozems of WRB) are estimated at 49 678.59 ha. (1.98%).
Chromic Cambisols on saprolite, cover 96 594.38 ha, (3.86%), while as a complex with
Leptosols, Luvisols, Hymic calcaric Regosols and Vertisols they cover 88 016.32 ha
(3.52%).
37
Sloppy areas which are formed on deposits of proluvial sediments on the foothills of the
mountainous areas and in the valleys, are mainly covered by Fluvisols, which as a separate
cartographic unit cover an area of 181 391.20 ha. (7.25%).
The most dominating soil types in the mountainous regions are Leptosols, with a total area
of 378 325.00 ha. (14.73%), Mollic and Umbric Leptosols, as a separate map unit cover
142 294.80 ha. (5.68%), while as a complex with other mountainous soils they cover much
of the higher territory. Calcomelanosols (Calcaric Kastanozems) cover approximately an
area of about 238 396.57 ha or 9.52%. Forest Cambisol (Dystric and Eutric Cambisols) are
also widespread in the forest regions and as a separate cartographic unit cover a total area
of 397 285.20 ha. (18.87%), while as a complex with Mollic and Umbric Leptosols,
Leptosols and Regosols they cover an additional area of 377 249.70 ha, (18.07%).
Out of the total area, almost 85% of it is productive land, while the rest of 15.07% is under
the category of unproductive land. The productive land is split between forest land
(38.18%) and agricultural land (43.54%), which is divided into the following two
subcategories: pastures (23.65%) and arable land (19.89%) There are several categories
within arable land, among which the dominant category is ploughed lands and gardens
with 16.13%. Instead, the areas covered by organic farming have fluctuated over the last
decade between 1.3% and 0.2% (Figure 20).
Figure 20 Areas under organic farming in North Macedonia
Source: Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning
Data on SOC stocks and carbon sequestration are not available. Based on the logic of soil
distribution, most of them are found in forest areas covered by soils with Mollic features.
Under these conditions is also hard to make predictions on the trends if this soil
health indicator is degrading or remaining stable.
Serbia
The Republic of Serbia is located in the northwestern part of the Balkan Peninsula, in the
southern part of Central and Eastern Europe. It extends in the direction south - north
between 41°53' and 46°11' north latitude and in the direction west-east between 18°49' and
23°00' east longitude covering a territory of 88 499 km2. Based on its geographic location
and natural characteristics, the Republic of Serbia could be considered both as a Central
European, Balkan, Pannonian and Danubian country (Vidojević et al., 2016).
38
Soil classification and cartography in Serbia has passed through different phases of
development. The first classification of soils for the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, was prepared
by Stebut in 1927. Other classifications, based on the genetic principles, were published
subsequently (Neugebauer et al., 1963; Filipovski et al., 1964). At a later stage and to
facilitate international communication, the national system of soil classification in
Yugoslavia was adapted to the international classification valid at that time in Europe
(Škorić et al., 1973; 1985). That classification is still accepted and in use in the Republic
of Serbia.
Vidojević (2015) has investigated in detail the spatial distribution of soil organic carbon
(SOC) and SOC sequestration potentials in the soils of Republic of Serbia. Organic carbon
stocks were estimated for soil layers 0-30 cm and 0-100 cm based on the results from a
database and using soil and land use maps. The database included a total of 1 140 soil
profiles which corresponded to 4 335 soil horizons. To establish the relationship between
organic carbon content and soil type, a soil map of Serbia was adapted to the WRB
classification and divided into 15 437 polygons (map units). SOC stocks were calculated
for each reference soil group based on mean values of SOC at 0-30 and 0-100 cm and their
areas.
The largest SOC stocks for the soil layers 0-30 cm were found in Cambisol 194.76 x 10(12)
g and Leptosol 186.43 x 10(12) g, and for the soil layers 0-100 cm in Cambisol 274.87 x
10(12) g and Chermozem 230.43 x 10(12) g. Based on the size of the reference groups, the
total area of Republic of Serbia, and the mean SOC values for each reference group, the
total SOC stocks were calculated. The obtained values for the soil layers 0-30 cm and 0-
100 cm amounted to 695.31 x 10(12) g and 1142.42 x 10(12) g, respectively. The analysis
of SOC stocks according to land use showed that SOC stocks were higher in forested
land and semi-natural areas than in agricultural soil (Belic et al., 2013) by 40.71%
and 11.43% at 0-30 cm and 0-100 cm, respectively (Figure 21).
Peatlands
Overall peat areas in the Western Balkans cover less than 1% of the soils and their impact
is very limited in terms of regional SOC content and the potential for Carbon
sequestration. Many of these areas have been drained, such as in Albania and put for
arable farming. The process was associated with enormous CO2 emissions and C losses.
Remaining Histosols should be protected and possibly left aside from agriculture.
39
Figure 21 Soil organic matter in agricultural soil to the depth of 0-30 cm (%)
Source: Vidojevic et al., 2016
Another interesting study was conducted in the vineyard region of Niš, which represents a
medium-sized vineyard region in Serbia where land use and relief was shown to be
important factors controlling SOC content. Instead, spatial distribution of organic carbon
withing the vineyards was not influenced by altitude, but from the different soil
management practices. The deep tillage at 60–80 cm, along with application of organic
amendments, showed the potential to preserve SOC in the subsoil and prevent carbon loss
from the surface layer. This study (Jakšić et al., 2021) included the examination of different
factors that influence SOC dynamics. They included: (i) the state of SOC in topsoil and
subsoil of vineyards compared to the nearest forest, (ii) the influence of soil management
on SOC, (iii) the variation of SOC content with topographic position, (iv) soil erosion
intensity to estimate the significance of SOC leaching from upper to lower topographic
positions, and finally (v) the significance of SOC for reducing the susceptibility of soil to
compaction.
The most important findings show a close correlation between elevation and SOC (Vidojević
et al., 2021). Previous studies (Manoljović et al., 2011; Vidojević, 2015) in Serbian soils
have shown that organic carbon content has decreased from 52.7 g kg1 (1 450 m.a.s.l.) to
39.4 g kg1 (500 m.a.s.l.). The study of Jaksic et al (2021) confirmed these trends with the
following results of the SOC content: 35.60 g kg1 at 500–1 000 m.a.s.l., 18.70 g kg1 at
200–500 m.a.s.l. and 15.20 g kg1 at altitudes below 200 m.a.s.l. This study offers
40
important feedback for similar areas under vineyards in Serbia and in other Western
Balkans countries with similar soil and climate conditions.
SOC stocks in Serbia and carbon sequestration are estimated to be stable. The
largest amount is in forest areas compared with arable lands. Soil distribution,
along with other factors such as elevation, land cover, relief and most importantly
land management have strong impacts on SOC content and distribution.
4.2.3 Water Erosion
It is estimated that the area of agriculture land with failure of soil health indicator due
to water erosion to be in the range of 30 % and about 45% of the total land area is
affected by soil erosion.
Soil erosion is the most studied degradation process in the Western Balkans with a legacy
of historical publications. Most of them were based on the methodology developed by a
Serbian scientist Gavrilovic (1972).
Ivan Blinkov from the Faculty of Forestry, University in Skopje, in North Macedonia
published a paper in 2015 entitled: “The Balkans: the most erosive part of Europe”. Based
on literature review and on his own research he compared the erosion rates of the rest of
Europe with those of the Western Balkans (WB) and found out that “the erosion intensity
in the WB is 548 m3 km-2 (equal to 5.48 t ha-1) and the total amount of annual produced
erosive material is 419.9*106 m3”. In comparison, the mean average annual erosion
intensity for Europe is calculated as 3.13 t ha-1 y-1 10. Data show that the mean annual
intensity of erosion in Albania and Montenegro are well above the accepted threshold of 10
t ha-1 y-1. It should be emphasised that soil erosion is the most studied soil degradation
process in the region, but often associated with conflicting data due to the diversity of the
methodologies implemented.
Nevertheless, and despite that there is ample agreement in the region that erosion is the
most important process of soil degradation, additional studies are necessary to verify the
results and produce reliable conclusions. Erosion is a very dynamic process and changes
continuously due to changes in land cover and rainfall patterns, these last influenced also
by climate change. Therefore, regional harmonised studies should be conducted
implementing similar methodologies and models widely used in the EU (Panagos et al.,
2015; Panagos et al., 2021). The region has the capacity and qualified experts to do this.
The only difficulty could be related to climate data availability and (perhaps) obsolete soil
data in some countries (i.e., Kosovo). LUCAS soil data of 2015 survey could be the starting
point and if another such survey could be conducted, the outcomes will be further
enhanced. It is unfortunate that Western Balkans countries are not eligible for funding
through the EJP SOIL Initiative 11. In that context the JRC should play a better role in the
region to support these countries to enhance their capacities and bring them in line with
other EU peers.
Paradoxically, efforts by the Governments of the region and the legislation in place to
control erosion were better implemented during the period before the political changes of
the 90s that transformed radically the Western Balkans region. In Albania for instance, the
month of December was nicknamed as the “the month of afforestation and erosion control”
and the same programmes were implemented in the previous Yugoslavia. While no one
regret the fall of the political system that opened the door to democracy, some lessons of
10
Note that Panagos et al., (2015) put this value 2.46t-ha-1-y-1
11
https://ejpsoil.eu/
41
the past may be revitalised again to protect the soils in a region, marked as the most
eroded in Europe.
Albania
Albania has a dense river network with seven main rivers flowing from East to the West to
the Adriatic and Ionian Seas comprising a large hydrographical catchment of 43 300 km2,
but only one third of it is out of the country’s political borders. Soil loss via water erosion
is a widespread phenomenon estimated at 2-3 times higher than in other Mediterranean
countries and 10 to 100 times greater than in many other European countries (Kovats,
2012). The typical Mediterranean climate is one of the most aggressive ones in terms of
erosion (heavy rainfall intensities, high rainfall amounts, drought as a permanent process,
etc.). These processes along with the topographic and soil conditions (steep slopes, silty
soils, low humus content) already classify more than 50% of the total land area in Albania
as naturally erosive. This is amplified by the anthropogenic impacts (illegal forest cutting,
fires, cultivated steep slopes, up-down cultivations, bare soils after harvesting,
overgrazing, absence of erosion protection measures) resulting in significant soil loss rates
(Kovats, 2012).
Coastal erosion and erosive river flows, along with flash flooding in coastal regions are also
common (Fig. 22). By 2030, it is predicted that approximately 32 percent of the coastal
areas will experience regular flooding, and large amounts of arable lands may be lost due
to inundation and increased salinity 12.
Figure 22 Coastal erosion has been characterized by increased sediment deposits at the river
Seman in Fier along the Adriatic coast eroding beaches further away from the river mouth which
had led in changes of the coastline. Note that in the 1970s, the bunker was 150 m inland of the
coast but by 2004 was fully covered by the sea.
Source: Lushaj and Zdruli, 2006.
12
Third National Communication of the Republic of Albania under the United Nations Framework Convention
on Climate Change, June 2016
42
Various authors report a wide range of soil loss and sediment transport level in the country.
Bockheim (2001) states a national average soil erosion rate of 27.2 tons per hectare per
year, which results in an annual sediment flux of 60 million tons carried by the Albanian
watercourses. Bruci et al., 2003 reports a soil loss range of 20-100 t ha-1 yr-1. They
computed for the north, middle and south-east region of the country an annual average
agricultural erosion rate of 15, 53 and 37 t ha-1 yr-1, respectively. Grazhdani and Shumkab,
(2007) presents an estimation of soil erosion for the whole country, they computed a soil
loss rate more than 10 t ha-1 yr-1 for a remarkable part (in the center and south) of the
country and even more than 100 t ha-1 yr-1 at three smaller regions also in the south.
Karydas et al., (2015) using the G2 erosion model reports less aggressive values for the
Ishmi Erzeni watershed with only 18% of the area having erosion rates above 10 t ha-1 yr-
1
, while the mean rate is estimated at 6.5 t ha-1 yr-1 for that catchment basin. Zdruli et al.,
(2016) using the same model (G2) in the Korca region (south east of Albania) report values
at 10.25 t ha-1 yr-1 for the vineyards, but other land cover types such as shrublands, broad-
leaved forests and natural grasslands have erosion rates below the 10 t ha-1 yr-1 threshold.
It could be that G2 model that has been also implemented in Greece and Cyprus might be
appropriate for Albania as well.
Kovats et al., (2012) used the USLE inspired PhosFate model for the whole territory of
Albania considering long-term average conditions. To perform a countrywide assessment
on erosion and sediment transport, they used a GIS database compiled according to the
model demands. The necessary digital maps (e. g. topography, soil characteristics, humus
content, land cover and vegetation) and climate data (rainfall, meteorology) derived from
different international data sources. Besides these, river monitoring data on discharge and
suspended sediment (SS) loads as well as results of other erosion studies were also
collected from the literature to calibrate the model and execute comparisons.
Results were astonishing with remarkable soil losses around the country especially in three
main regions, which are in the north, in the central and in the south. In these regions,
similarly to Grazhdani and Shumkab (2007), high soil loss rates can be found with values
more than 10 t ha-1 yr-1 as well as with values of even more than 100 t ha-1 yr-1.
Countrywide average soil loss rate is 31.5 t/ha/y, which is far above the tolerable limit of
10 t ha-1 yr-1 in line with what was reported by Bockheim (2001). The average rate means
that totally 90.5 million tons soil eroded annually in the country. Distribution of the higher
soil loss classes shows that 78% of the territory produces tolerable erosion, and 22% (6
399 km2) has higher soil loss rate than the tolerable limit (Table 6). Nevertheless, this 22%
of the total area is responsible for the majority (93%) of the soil erosion with agriculture
areas contribute to ca. 90% of the soil loss (Kovats, et al., 2012). 63% of the total soil
loss comes from the steepest regions of the country, while below 12% steepness the
contribution to the total erosion is very low.
Extremely high soil loss rates (60-130 t ha-1 yr-1) were calculated for the mixed agricultural
land and the orchards/vineyards located on high slopes. This results in an enormous total
soil loss (82 million tons per year) from the total agricultural sector. The mixed lands
(especially the semi-natural lands), the grasslands, the sparsely vegetated areas probably
used as intensive pasture are prone to overgrazing, which leads to high erosion rate as
well. Besides this, it is important to notice, that the special monthly distribution of the
rainfall in Albania, highly strengthens the impacts of erosion, because most of the rainfall
events occur in the winter half-year when agricultural soils are often uncovered. The
naturally covered areas remain at low erosion rates all over the country.
43
Figure 23 (a) Calculated long-term average specific soil loss rates in Albania; (b) Agricultural and
natural source areas of soil erosion in Albania; (c) Sediment transport by the main watercourses of
Albania.
Source: Kovats, 2012
Table 6 Areas, total amounts, and proportions of the specific soil loss rate classes in Albania.
Source: Kovats, 2012
Among the best management practices (BMP) that could be implemented in Albania to
control erosion are afforestation and proper grassland management in the natural
vegetation zones and especially avoiding overgrazing. Agricultural soil protection without
any soil stabilization is limitedly successful only (17%), however, if it is accompanied by
vegetative soil stabilization (e. g. mulching on the bare soil or grassing between the
permanent crop rows/fruit trees), the efficiency approximates the value of the forests
(74%) (Kovats, 2012). Management of the agricultural area of the country can produce
impressive soil loss reduction, however this would require notable investments and a
comprehensive cost efficiency analysis.
44
Figure 24 Terraces in Mallakaster, south Albania for cultivation of olives
Source: Zdruli
Countrywide average soil loss is about 30 t/ha/y. 22% of the country area has
higher soil loss rate than the tolerable value of 10/t/ha/y. This 22% is
responsible for the majority (93%) of the soil erosion. Main source for soil loss
is agriculture, which generates ca. 90% of the total losses, especially agricultural
lands that are located on high slopes.

The history of soil erosion studies in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) is quite long, but one
most significant study started in1985, when a Map of Soil Erosion of BiH was developed by
Lazarević (1985). Unfortunately, that map has not been updated and moreover, data
disappeared during the conflict period in Bosnia (Tošić, 2007). Since 2004 part of the soil
erosion map was reconstructed, but only for the Republic of Srpska territory (Tošić and
Hrkalović, 2009; Tošić et al., 2012) as could be seen in Figure 25. Kapovic Solomun et al.,
(2019) describe the difficulties related to data shortages, many of which were destroyed
during the Bosnia war and the absence of a national soil erosion map of the country.
Figure 25 Soil erosion map of the Republic of Srpska prepared in 2011
Source; Tosic, et al., 2013
45
Data from a case study conducted in the Republic of Srpska (Tosic et al., 2013) report an
average annual soil erosion rate of 9.88 t ha-1 yr-1. It was found that 70.36% of the area
(Table 7) has low to very low risks of erosion, while the rest is subdivided as moderate
(11.39%), high (12.35%) and very high (5.88%). These values reflect the morphological
setting of Republic of Srpska with large extension of flat lands. Instead, Table 8 shows the
correlation between erosion classes and land uses. It is obvious that agriculture land is the
most prone to erosion. These results indicate that more than 34% of the area with high
and very high soil loss occurs in the elevation between 200 and 1 000 m in arable lands
and orchard where soil conservation measures should be implemented to reduce soil loss.
These results could be as indicator values to estimate the erosion extent in the whole
country.
Table 7 Categories of soil erosion and their respective areas
Source Tosic, 2013
Table 8 Percentage of soil erosion categories according to different land use types
Source Tosic, 2013
The large areas of forest cover acts as a buffer zone for erosion control in Bosnia and
Herzegovina, but as in all other countries, agriculture lands are the most vulnerable and
prone to erosion. Since 45% of the agricultural land is in hilly zones (300-700 m a.s.l.)
these areas produce the largest amount of soil loss. A considerable part of this zone has
slopes above 13% and the processes of erosion are very marked. Erosion is further
exacerbated by the inappropriate farming practices and when preference is given to row
crops (corn and potato) that are unsuitable for these slopping lands especially when no soil
conservation measures are implemented. In addition, the mountain areas (> 700 m a.s.l.)
that account for a further 35% of agricultural land located in steep slopes with lower soil
fertility, the total agriculture area subject to erosion is 80%. The remaining 20% of
agricultural land is in the lowland river valleys and could be considered at very low risk to
erosion, apart from some forms of sheet erosion.
Considering that agriculture land is the most vulnerable to soil erosion is

estimated that erosion rates above the threshold value of 10t/ha/y affect about
80% of the agriculture land.
46
Kosovo
Some preliminary assessments (Tahirsylaj et al., 2016) subdivide the soils of Kosovo as
56% of poor quality, 29% at average level and only 15% in good quality, but the authors
do not specify the indicators used for this assessment apart from drainage, soil texture
and soil depth. However, most likely soil erosion should have been the main factor behind
these assessments at least for the sloping lands.
In fact, the Pedologic Atlas of Kosovo IDWR of 1974, edited by The Institute "Jaroslav
Cerni" in Belgrade developed a soil erosion risk map. Unfortunately, in the preparation of
this reort it was not possible to locate this map. But, even if this could have been possible,
the data would have been obsolete. Nevertheless, based on the same map source, Blinkov
et al., (2013) report that 95% of Kosovo area is at risk of erosion, without specifying the
degree of the erosion risk. In 2001, a new map of soil erosion provided similar results as
the one of 1975 (Blinkov et al., 2013). It was estimated that the total annual erosion area
in Kosovo was 249 m3 km-2 yr-1 with an annual sediment yield is 9 000 000 m3 yr-1, or 106
m3 km-2 yr-1
The most recent report of the Kosovo Environmental Agency of 2020 reports recent data
on soil erosion based on the PESERA model. These data are presented in Table 9 along
with a new soil erosion map (Figure 26). Compared with the previous estimates the latest
report puts risk areas of Kosovo at about 60% of the territory.
About 60% of the territory of Kosovo is subject to soil erosion rates above the
threshold values. Agriculture area in sloping lands especially in the vineyards is
highly vulnerable to erosion.
Table 9 Erosion intensity in Kosovo
Source: Kosovo Environment 2020 report
47
Figure 26 New soil erosion map for Kosovo
Source: Kosovo Environment 2020 report
Montenegro
There are many factors that have influenced the water erosion processes in Montenegro,
but the most significant are climate, with extreme precipitation values in some parts of the
country (the highest of Europe) as well as relief, geological substrate, soil characteristics
and the condition of the vegetation cover and the land use (Spalević, 2013a). Fluvial
erosion is also present in water streams. Using the methodological framework of Gavrilović
(1972, 1988) Spalević (2011) estimates that water erosion is affecting 13 135 km2 or 95%
of the total territory of Montenegro (13 812 km2). Out of it almost half of the area is
exposed to medium to high erosion intensity with highest values attained in the river
catchments of Ibar and Piva and the coastal catchments (Spalević et al, 2008, Kostadinov
et al., 2006).
There are also many other (Spalevic et al., 2013b, 2015) studies implemented at local
scale and specific watersheds in the country. Their results confirm the estimates at national
level.
About 90% of the territory of Montenegro is affected by soil erosion, half of it is
subject to medium and high intensity. Karst areas are more degraded.
Agriculture soil in the slopes show higher erosion rates.
48
North Macedonia
The same as for all other Western Balkan countries, North Macedonia is also affected by
soil erosion, but with less intensity compared to Albania and Montenegro, most likely due
to a different rainfall pattern with lower intensity. All the rest of the erosion criteria such
as uneven relief, steep slopes, land cover, soil erodibility and inappropriate human
activities in agriculture and overgrazing including forest mismanagement and forest fires,
accelerate erosion. Table 10 gives the distribution of erosion based on the Gavrilovic
methodology. These results are in line with (Blinkov et al., 2013) who estimate the total
area of extremely, high, and medium intensity at about 38% (9 423 km2) of the country
(Table 10). Furthermore, Blinkov et al., (2013) estimates that overall area affected by
erosion to be 96%.
Table 10 Erosion distribution in North Macedonia
Degradation Area Percent erosion

category intensity
(km2) (%)
(erosion (m3 km2 y-
processess) 1)
I extremely 698 2.77 > 3 000

high
II high 1 832 7.38 1 500 – 3 000
III medium 6 893 27.78 1 000 – 1 500
IV low 7 936 31.98 500 – 1 000
V very low 7 463 30.09 70 – 500
Source: Aleksovska et al., 2016, based on Blinkov et al., 2013
The total annual erosion production for Macedonia is about 17 000 000 m3 yr−1 or 680 m3
km−2 yr−1, with about 7 500 000 m3 yr−1 or 303 m3 km−2 yr−1 of sediments that are moved
away from the site where it is eroded. A significant part of these deposits or about 3 000
000 m3 yr−1 is not carried through the downstream sections of the rivers out of the country’s
territory but are deposited in natural lakes and reservoirs.
For example, the rates of annual sediment yield to the biggest reservoirs in Macedonia are:
Tikves (1 300 000 m3 yr−1 or 497 m3 km2 yr−1), Kalimanci (420 000 m3 yr−1 or 970 m3 km2
yr−1). Typical for these reservoirs is that a great part of the eroded material was deposited
in the so called "useful storage of the reservoir", decreasing water resources of the
reservoir itself (Blinkov et al, 2013).
About 40 000 ha of irrigated land is also subject to erosion, with an annual average soil loss
of about 300 000 m3. Significant parts of these deposits, about 3*106 m3 y-1 are not carried
through the downstream sections of the rivers to the exit the state territory but are deposed
in natural lakes and reservoirs (Blinkov et al, 2013). Table 11 gives comparisons of erosion
rates between Bulgaria, North Macedonia, and Serbia, with the higher rates in North
Macedonia, most likely due to rough terrain.
Table 11 Erosion intensity between North Macedonia, Serbia, and Bulgaria
49
Source: Blinkov et al., 2013
It is also good to notice that a number of conservation measures were taken over the
years, and the early ones started in the 1900’s. Later, measures to control erosion on
deforested barren lands have also been under way since 1945, when restrictions were
placed on nomadic breeding of goats and sheep in forests (Blinkov and Trendafilov, 2004;
Blinkov et al., 2007). This measure, though unpopular, led to a recovery of degraded forest
and shrub land. During the period 1950's – 1970's, classical stone barrages were usually
constructed. Then building of concrete barrages began. These structures were made by
state water management enterprises, where in past there existed a particular sector for
erosion and torrent control.
Legislation for erosion control was also very detailed as reported by several Acts such as
the Act for afforestation of bare land (1951), Act of erosion control on steep slopes (1952),
and the Act of steep slopes protection and torrent control (1957). Later, these acts were
suspended. As part of the erosion control programme an "Afforestation Fund" was
established in 1970 and it existed until 1990. Till 1990, erosion control measures and
activities were on "higher level" and institutional support was high. There were sections for
erosion control in all regional water management enterprises and budget was allocated to
them (Blinkov et al., 2013).
After the 90s water management is in a transformation period. Plans are only partially
completed. About 65% of planed hydraulic structures were built, but only 25% of planed
afforestation occurred. Unfortunately, erosion is one the biggest environmental and
economic problems in North Macedonia, but there are no special funds available for
controlling it (Blinkov et al., 2013).
More than 90% of the territory of North Macedonia is subject to soil erosion and
38% of it is affected by extremely high, high, and medium erosion.
Serbia
Soil loss caused by erosion, with various categories of degradation, is a serious problem
also in the Republic of Serbia. A first erosion map was prepared in 1975 using EPM
methodology (Gavrilovic, 1972). This map shows that, of the total area of Serbia, 86% is
endangered by soil erosion of various rates. The new map of erosion produced in 2001 was
little different than the map of 1975. Total annual erosion production in Serbia is 37 000
000 m3 yr−1 or 488 m3 km−2 yr−1); annual sediment yield is 9 000 000 m3 yr−1, or 106 m3
km2 yr−1. The most endangered area is the southeast part of the country that is close to
the North Macedonia and Bulgaria borders (Blinkov et al., 2013). Approximately 80% of
agriculture soils are affected while in the Vojvodina province in the north of Serbia, eolic
erosion prevails, affecting approximately 85% of the agricultural soil (Vidojević and
Manojlović, 2007).
Same as in all others former Yugoslav republics, also in Serbia erosion control and torrent
measures started prior to 1900 but the organized work began in 1907. The first
50
interventions were for torrent control and channel recovery at the zones of intersections
with railways, aiming at railroad protection. There were interventions in the torrents of the
Grdelička Klisura gorge in the South-East of Serbia, where the international railway line
and road Belgrade-Skopje-Athens passes through (Kostandinov, 2007).
In the field of erosion and torrent control, especially after the Second World War (period
1946 – 1989) significant results have been achieved. Many roads and railways,
settlements, industry, and storage reservoirs have been protected (fully or partially), from
sedimentation and from torrent floods. Most important intervention for erosion control in
the farmland were done during the period 1955-1966. Later on they were reduced and
erosion intensified again (Kostandinov, 2007).
Most recently several conservation measures have been defined in agriculture as well as a
related law aiming the protection of agricultural land from the harmful effects of erosion
(Law on Agricultural Soil, Articles 18, 19 and 20) but its implementation is challenging.
A positive case study comes from the Niš region, which mainly belongs to the hilly,
mountainous area that is under the influence of high and severe intensity erosion, which
requires the application of protective measures. Some of the implemented measures
include no-till farming, reduced tillage, terrace construction and maintenance, cover crops,
continuous plant cover, crop rotation and establishing shelterbelts. Erosion processes in
vineyards can be very pronounced because they are usually based on steep and hilly
terrain, as well as on mountains with southern exposure due to the better quality of grapes.
Besides, due to specific soil properties such as limited soil development, coarse texture,
and low capacity to protect SOM binding to soil minerals, these soils are sensitive to
degradation. Thanks to conservation measures the mean annual soil loss in the Niš region
was found to be 5.42 t ha−1 yr−1, determined using the USLE model. Furthermore, the
average erosion intensity in the observed localities ranged between 0.05 and 9.80 t ha−1
yr−1, with a mean value of 4.43 t ha−1 yr−1 which classifies this area as having tolerable
erosion risk (Jakšić et al., 2021) according to the OECD classification.
Erosion affects about 86% of the territory of the Republic of Serbia and
approximately 80% of agriculture land. In the Province of Vojvodina, eolic
erosion affects 85% of agriculture soils.
51
4.2.4 Compaction
Except for very few sporadic case studies (i.e., Jakšić et al., 2021), data are
not available on the extent and degree of soil compaction in the Western
Balkans. Hence soil compaction should be included without delay both in the
national and EU research projects.
Soil compaction is the result of mechanical stress caused by the passage of agricultural
machinery and livestock. The consequences are increased soil density, a degradation of
soil structure and reduced porosity (especially macroporosity). This causes increased
resistance against root penetration and negatively affecting soil organisms, as their
presence is restricted to sufficiently sized pores (Schjønning et al., 2015). Compaction is
known to be a significant pre-cursor of erosion. Soil compaction may lower crop yields by
2.5-15%, but it also contributes to waterlogging during precipitation events, which not
only reduces the accessibility of fields to machinery but also negatively affects run-off,
discharge rate and flooding events (Brus and van den Akker, 2018). The Western Balkans
regions is lacking behind in studies dealing with soil compaction.
4.2.5 Pollution including risks to food
Western Balkans have a total of 2 735 contaminated sites due to mining

and industrial activities. Their area extent is unknown. Some soils are
naturally contaminated with heavy metals due to geological formations
from where they derive.
Soil pollution 13 compromises food, water, and air quality. Contaminants enter the soil and
are dispersed through environmental compartments, harming the environment and public
health. Most soil contaminants come from industrial processes and mining, poor waste
management, unsustainable farming practices, accidents ranging from chemical spills to
environmental disasters, and armed conflicts that devastated the Western Balkans after
the breakup of Yugoslavia.
Soil pollution is widely present in the region as mentioned also in the SOER2020 report
that also recognises the complexity of the problem EU (Payá Pérez, and Rodríguez Eugenio,
2018). Nevertheless, the chain reaction effects are still unknown for many substances
entering into the soil especially those related to microplastics. The most common pollution
sources include petrochemical plants and petrol station, landfills, pesticide contamination,
POPs, microplastics, veterinary products/pharmaceutical, and emerging concerns such as
pFAS, heavy metals, and sewage sludge. Furthermore, the percentage of landfilling
remains very high and exceeds 90% in all cases except for Albania (EEA, 2019a).
The mining industry represents a major source of soil pollution in the Western Balkan
countries, especially in Albania, which was (is) one of the world's leading chromate
producers (Egerer et al., 2010). Furthermore, illegal dumping and open landfills are a
common waste management practice in many WB countries. In North Macedonia for
instance, some 200 hectares are occupied by landfills and illegal dumps that are abundant
although their impact and extent have not been fully elucidated (MOEP, 2017). Hazardous
waste is frequently buried in urban landfills. A common concern is the Western Balkan
13
A significant amount of data for this subsection come from the upcoming JRC report Chapter 8 Soil Pollution in
Europe part of the Global Assessment of Soil Pollution (GASP) Report prepared by FAO-GSP Secretariat
52
countries is also the e-waste management, which still needs improvement as most of the
e-waste is disposed in landfills and the recycling and recovery activities are poorly managed
causing significant resource losses. This leads to a high risk for human health and the
environment. However, initiatives are taking place mainly in the private recycling sector
(Baldé et al., 2017).
More recently, war activities that took place between 1991 and 1999 have caused extensive
soil pollution, especially from landmines, categorizing Bosnia and Herzegovina as one of
the most landmine-polluted countries in the world. To date, the country counts about 1
366 landmine polluted settlements, of which 1 168 are in rural communities, which causes
a limitation to agricultural and livestock activities (Musa, Siljkovic, Sakic, 2017). In
addition, intensive warfare in the region left a legacy of trace element pollution in soils,
including antimony, arsenic, lead, mercury, and zinc, as observed by Vidosavljević and co-
workers in eastern Croatia, affected by the war in former Yugoslavia (Vidosavljevic et al.,
2013).
Moreover, depleted uranium (DU) penetrators were also used in the Kosovo’s conflict,
which have left a trail of DU-polluted soils. Southern Serbia and Kosovo were the regions
most affected by the 1999 air strikes, in which 11 tonnes of depleted uranium ammunition
and 30 000 depleted uranium shells were used in military actions in the Kosovo conflict (Di
Lella, et al., 2004, Milacic et al., 2004). It has been observed that soil pollution is very
heterogeneous in affected areas and that DU pollution is higher when penetrators are
burned after reaching a certain target. Currently, four locations in Serbia are routinely
tested in order to monitor DU contamination (UNECE, 2015b). After the war, Serbia and
Kosovo have experienced a significant increase of malicious tumours, with more than 30
000 people diagnosed with haematological malignancies in the first 10 years since the
bombing and between 10 000 and 18 000 of them died (Latifi-Pupovci et al., 2020).
The estimation of the extent of pollution in the agriculture sector is very difficult to be
made due to lack of data. The best assumption would be to consider primarily as “risk free”
the area of organic farming, which is very small compared with other farming types.
Nevertheless, most agriculture soils are not contaminated.
The next step was to estimate the extent of contamination at country level and
consequently region-wide. To do so, the total number of contaminated sites per country
were collected as given in Table 12. The problem though, was that, apart from 300 000 ha
that are polluted in Bosnia and Herzegovina, 429.6 km2 in North Macedonia, and 3 203.7
km2 in Serbia all other countries do not have these data (Figure 27). If the logic of the
number of contaminated sites is used, then Kosovo would the country with the highest
contamination rates, both because of open field lignite mining sites surrounding Prishtina
and due to the Kosovo war.
Figure 27 Sites in need of investigation (a) and number of remediated sites (b)
Source: Payá Pérez, and Rodríguez Eugenio, 2018
53
Table 12 Number of polluted or potentially polluted sites included in national inventories.
Identified Surface area

Date when
polluted or
Country (km2) information was
potentially
provided
polluted sites
Albania 10 2012
Bosnia and Herzegovina 350 3 000 2020
Kosovo 1 586 2020
Montenegro 10 2012
North Macedonia 70 429.6 2017
Serbia 709 3 203.7 2017
Total 2 735 6 633.3
Sources: EC 2019k; Liedekerke et al, 2014; Ministry of Environment and Spatial

Planning, Kosovo Environmental Protection Agency and GIZ 2018; Payá Pérez, and
Rodríguez Eugenio, 2018
The report by HEAL (2015) on the impact of coal-fired power plants on children in Bosnia
and Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro reveal worrying data. Elevated levels of mercury,
above the limit of 0.58 μg/g, were detected in around 17% of human hair samples from
Serbia. Elevated levels of cadmium were found in 25% of samples and 33% of samples
from Montenegro showed high levels of lead. 17% of studied Bosnian children had elevated
levels of lead HEAL (2015).
The Western Balkan countries are also participating and taking advantage of the political
progress at EU level to strengthen their policies and actions and thus improve their
environment and socio-economic situation and development. Furthermore, they are also
involved in a regional project to support and strengthen environmental governance and
development of sustainable policies to reach the SDGs, a process that started in 2018 and
is implemented in cooperation with UNEP, UNDP and the United Nations Country Teams in
the beneficiary countries (UNECE, 2018a). In addition, they have been supported with GEF
funded projects on Mercury Initial Assessment (MIA) to enable their governance as well as
to identify and assess the requirements and needs for the implementation of the Minamata
Convention (GEF, 2016b).
A survey conducted in the Western Balkans on public awareness of environmental issues,
such as pollution, shows that there is widespread acceptance that environmental
degradation is a necessary step towards prosperity and that a large part of the population
does not minimise their impact on the environment through their consumption choices
(RCC, 2019). However, even the most environmentally conscious citizens have limited
options to reduce their environmental impact. In terms of pollution, two-thirds of the
interviewed population considered pollution a threat, while 35% considered it a serious
issue. Respondents from Montenegro are the least concerned about the state of the
environment, with only 47% showing concern, while 82% of respondents from North
Macedonia indicated that they were concerned about pollution, maybe because Skopje is
considered one of the most air polluted cities in the world. Furthermore, 59% of
respondents were willing to pay more to buy environmentally friendly products, with
54
Albania and Montenegro having the most environmentally conscious shoppers at 63%
(RCC, 2019).
Diverse policies refer to soil pollution and the need for data on pollution sources is high.
However, there is a lack of binding measures, e.g. to build and publish registers of polluted
sites or to assess and apply harmonised definitions and critical thresholds for contaminants
in soils. Progress towards sustainable development in the Western Balkans will be possible
only if land and soil resources are properly addressed.
Albania
The geological formation of Albania is characterised by Quaternary sediments in the
western part while on the eastern side by the basic, acid volcanic rocks and ultramafic
serpentine massifs that play a crucial role in the natural contamination process. Studies
(Ministry of Tourisms and Environment, 2019) have shown that Ni, Cr and Co are present
at high concentration at serpentine areas as well as in industrial sites located in the area.
Moreover, also the surrounding soils show high levels of Cd, Cu and Zn (Fig. 28). Overall
Albania has reported 10 contaminated sites.
A study conducted by the Agriculture University of Tirana identified seven metals (Cd, Co,
Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn) in soil samples collected on the eight sites of the serpentine zone
(Table 10). Each sample exhibited a high concentration in one or more metals. The Cd
content in soils varied between 2 and 14 mg kg-1 DM and was rather high compared to the
values generally observed in agricultural soils and was considered as toxic with the highest
value observed at the industrial site of Prrenjas. Cobalt and Cr concentrations in soils were
also elevated because of both natural and anthropogenic sources and varied from 91 to 3
865 mg kg-1 DM. Again, the sample from Prrenjas exhibited the highest concentration of
Co (476 mg kg 1) and Cr (3 865 mg kg1). Copper concentrations in soils were lower than
73 mg kg1, except for the Rubik site where the Cu concentration was 1 107 mg kg-1 DM,
caused by the former activity of the copper smelter factory in the area (Ministry of Tourisms
and Environment, 2019).
High Ni and Cr concentrations were observed only at the serpentine sites where soils were
derived from gabbro and ultrabasic rocks rich in Fe, Ni and Cr. The site of Prrenjas appeared
the most polluted by Cd, Co, Cr, Ni and Pb. Chromium and Ni were present at high levels
in the soil of Elbasan (Fig. 28).
Table 13 Heavy metals concentrations (ppm) in soils of serpentine zone
Source: Ministry of Tourisms and Environment, 2019
55
Figure 28 Distribution of serpentine formations and associated soils in Albania
The mining and ore processing industry has left behind several polluted sites, such as the one
in the Elbasan metallurgical complex (Luli, 2010) as shown in Figure 29.
56
Figure 29 Concentration of Zn and Ni (above) and Cr and Pb (below) at Elbasan metallurgical
complex
Accidental oil spills and improper disposal of wastewater used for oil extraction are also a
cause of soil pollution by BTEX, volatile organic compounds or crude oil. The oil extraction
industry is important to the economy of Albania, which has two of the largest onshore oil
fields in Europe. In 2015, extensive pollution of neighbouring agricultural soils occurred
following an incident at the Patos-Marinza oil field, which resulted in an explosion of gas,
sludge, and water (Beqiraj and Topi, 2016). Furthermore, the country has two refineries
which have not undergone a modernization process therefore have limited capacity for oil
treatment and refining and could have a negative impact on the environment (UNECE,
2018c).
Of the 10 sites reported by Albania in 2012, five are still considered as soil pollution
hotspots in 2017. These five sites correspond to (Alimehmeti and Roshi, 2017) to the
following:
• the pesticide-producing Durrës chemical plant, which has left a legacy of soils
polluted with lindane at concentrations a hundred times higher than EU threshold
levels, as well as several neighbouring waste accumulation areas with a total of
more than 20 000 tonnes of lindane and other chemical residues;
• the chlor-alkali and PVC plant in Vlorë, which has caused a severe pollution of 50
000 to 60 000 m2 with mercury at values exceeding 10 000 mg/kg, which has
penetrated the soil profile up to a depth of 1.5 metres.
• the Marinzë oil field in Patos, which covers an area of 200 km2, although the actual
extent of soil pollution is unknown, the company estimates that between 20 and
40 tonnes of extracted crude oil is lost to the environment every day, along with
atmospheric emissions of sulphur oxides. Values of 4-90 µg/m3 PAHs have been
reported in surrounding soils.
• the Ballsh Oil Refinery also has significant crude oil losses to the environment,
estimated at 22 500 tonnes per year. As in the previous case, the oils end up in
57
the Gjanicë River, which is a source of drinking water for the population
downstream.
• And several landfills spread throughout the country. Although soil pollution has not
been assessed, given the nature of the waste, pollution by trace elements, dioxins
and furans, among others, is expected.
• Agricultural production is currently relatively a less polluting source.
Plastic pollution is also a problem with much of that accumulated along the riverbeds as
well as along the coast.
Figure 30 Plastic accumulated on the sides of a river in Albania
Source: Zdruli
Little information is available on the national priorities regarding soil pollution. Recently
the country has received funding by GEF to strengthen the capacity and promote
sustainable soil management through integrated ecosystem restoration. The project was
approved in 2016 and implemented by UNEP (GEF, 2016e). Additionally, it was reported
that from 2011 until 2016 no action plan was made for the remediation of hotspots in the
country (UNECE, 2018c). On the positive side, a soil monitoring network called the
Consolidation of the Environmental Monitoring System (CEMSA) has been implemented, in
which soil quality indicators, trace elements included, are measured in 30 fixed sites that
overall are far too little for the whole country. The hope is that data coming from the LUCAS
survey of 2015 could be included in the CEMSA.
58
Table 14 Drivers, sources, and location of contamination sites in Albania

Bosnia and Herzegovina do not have a national soil and land information system, and
information on soil pollution is limited because of a lack of regulations on soil protection
and monitoring. The only information available is on land use and structure, soil classes
and ownership (UNECE, 2018b).
Overall, an estimated 300 000 ha are polluted (Andersen, 2000). As reported in 2017, 109
100 ha correspond to mining areas. There are no estimates on the area polluted by POPs,
but many, including fire-fighting foams and PCBs, are still in use or have been buried
without any contention measure as it is the case for PCB-containing capacitors (UNECE,
2018b).
59
At least three sites are potentially polluted with PCBs in the country. Seven sites potentially
polluted with POP pesticides were identified corresponding to farmland, orchards,
vineyards, and a tobacco processing plant. The preparation study for the development of
the National Implementation Plan for the Stockholm Convention included the collection of
data and investigation of sites potentially polluted with key POPs (Fig. 31) (Institute for
Protection and Ecology of Republika Srpska, 2015).
Landfills in Bosnia and Herzegovina are responsible for extensive soil pollution through
leachates containing organic compounds and trace elements that seep into soil and
ultimately groundwater due to the existence of underdeveloped municipal solid waste
treatment facilities in urban areas. For example, groundwater pollution occurs after landfill
leaching through soil at the Banja Luka’s municipal landfill, despite low soil permeability.
Furthermore, there are 340 illegal dumpsites in the country (UNECE, 2018b).
According to (JICA, 2014), other places are to be included as shown figure 31, such as the
340 registered illegal landfills and many others that may exist but have not yet been
identified, coal mines and deposits of coal, and metal and military industries. Sixty five
percent of electric power is generated by coal/lignite-fired plants, which do not follow any
procedure to reduce pollution from the waste generated from combustion (UNECE, 2018b).
Figure 31 Hot spots of soil pollution in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the major contaminants of
concern as identified in the National Implementation Plan of the Stockholm Convention.
Source: UN, 2020 modified with data from Institute for Protection and Ecology of Republika Srpska,
2015.
60
Kosovo
The Kosovo Parliament approved the first law on environmental protection in 2001
emphasizing the same importance of chemical pollution as for soil erosion. The 2001 Law
was drafted from an analysis of legislation in various European countries under
consultancies with the World Bank and the United Nations Environmental Programme (The
parliament of Republic of Kosovo, 2011).
There are in addition several institutions under the Academy of Sciences, various public
Universities and the Ministry of Agriculture that deal with environmental monitoring and
research studies, but often deprived from adequate financial resources. In the same year
Parliament also passed the Law for Soil Protection with the established legal aspects to be
followed by all governmental structures in the country. Unfortunately, such legislation was
not able to halt soil degradation due to lack of policy enforcement and implementation.
The Law “On Environmental Protection” adopted in 2011 determined the five stages of
environment protection applied in Kosovo:
 Gradual reduction of pollution, degradation and environmental damage and the
prevention of those aspects of economic and other activities that pose a
significant threat to human health and the environment.
 Protection biodiversity and general ecological balance of Kosovo.
 Rational and sustainable utilization of natural resources and agricultural land

and protection of natural genetic stocks.
 Protection of valuable natural resources.
 The preservation of the diversity, cultural and aesthetic values of the landscape.
The law’s goals were prevention and reduction of pollution, conservation of biodiversity,
rational management of natural resources, and avoidance of over-exploitation, ecological
restoration of damaged areas, and maintenance and improvement of the environment. The
law could have significant impacts on the environmental and human health since it required
an environmental impact assessment (EIA) for all projects and activities. However, there
was minimal enforcement of it for many reasons including also governmental transitions.
A total of 1 586 contaminated sites have been reported in Kosovo, the highest number in
the region, most of them due to the Kosovo war. Health problems affecting hundreds of
people were also reported as given in the introductory part of this sub-section.
One main source of contamination derives from industrial pollutions that took place for
decades in the radius of Mitrovica (TREPCA) smelting plant. A soil and plant test has proved
that farmlands within 25 km radius of Mitrovica are contaminated with Lead, Zinc, Mercury,
and Cadmium with serious implications on human health. The soil and water contamination
of garbage wastes is the other environmental threat, especially when it comes to landfill
sites, where percolation of chemicals and heavy metals into the soil and water is likely.
Another source of pollution are the Obiliq power generation plants in the Kastriot
Municipality near the capital of Prishtina. Sallahu (2017) evaluated the total heavy metals
concentrations pollution in different soil types. Soil samples were collected at the depth of
0-30 cm in an agricultural area of about 5 000 ha divided in three circles (2, 4, and 6 km
distance from the Power Plants). A total of 40 geo-referenced samples were collected, 35
in the study area and 5 in the control zone 25 km far from the plants. The method for the
determination of heavy metals was based on the spectroscopy with plasma – ICP – OES,
EPA 12914: 2012. Results showed that contamination is higher at the third circle indicating
that pollution is spreading in larger areas. These results were compared with the allowed
threshold values of the EU and resulted higher. Special attention was devoted to the
delineation of contaminated areas that should be off limits to humans, livestock, and
61
urban/rural development. Mitigation techniques were suggested to be applied throughout
the polluted areas. Nevertheless, nothing was done since then.
Figure 32 The huge lignite excavation site at Obiliq that fuels two huge power plants inside the
Kastriot Municipality. This is the major source of electricity for Kosovo
Source: Zdruli, 2016

Coal-fired thermal power plants are major emitters of multiple contaminants into the
environment. The ashes deposit in the soils in the vicinity of the plants, resulting in
pollution by trace elements and radionuclides such as uranium or thorium (UNECE, 2019b).
Uncontrolled emissions from the combustion of lignite (Fig. 32) in Kosovo's power plants
result in the annual average release into the environment of some 2 million tonnes of ash,
more than 11 tonnes of arsenic, 1 tonne of cadmium, 351 tonnes of nickel, 492 tonnes of
titanium, 191 tonnes of manganese, and 0.48 tonnes of vanadium (Daci-Ajvazi et al.,
2016). These obsolete highly polluting coal-fired power plants, Kosova A and B, nurture
Kosovo’s energy needs, and both have associated two big dump areas (ITA, 2020).
Wastewater treatment remains very rare in Kosovo, and given its expansive sewerage
networks, it is both a logical next priority for the sector to invest in and develop, as well
as a requirement under the WFD. Sewerage systems are one source of pollution, but
Kosovo has important point polluters in form of landfills, and heavy industry as well, as
well as local mining operations. These require strong licensing and regulation and
prohibitions on destructive actions. Besides addressing point source pollution this requires
the conservation and protection of the aquatic ecosystems and the determination and
enforcement of Ecologically Acceptable Law (The World Bank, 2018).
Little progress has been made in Kosovo in the assessment, monitoring, reporting and
remediation of polluted soil. Industrial and mining waste and dumpsites are the main
sources of pollution in Kosovo, although the extension of soil affected is still to be
determined (EC, 2019h). There are about 1 572 illegal landfills in Kosovo and 4 municipal
non-sanitary landfills that may be posing a high risk to the environment and human health
(Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning, Kosovo Environmental Protection Agency
62
and GIZ, 2018). Additionally, the major municipal landfill, Mirash landfill, is close to the
capital Pristina and receive waste from 450 000 people but is poorly managed and it is
leachates are posing a high risk (Morina, 2018).
Montenegro
In total Montenegro has reported only 10 contaminated sites. However, there are about
20 industries including mines, coal power and aluminium plants that are causing point-
source pollution that require advance chemical treatment of their waste and wastewater
to avoid further impacts on the surrounding environment. High concentration of PAHs were
detected in soils at Srpska village affected by the Aluminum Plant Podgorica (UNECE
2015a). The remediation of polluted sites in Montenegro occurs within the waste
management plans that have been produced so far. The waste management plans include
activities such as the remediation and closure of dumpsites and the remediation of locations
called “black points”, which are sites with large quantities of disposed waste (UNECE
2015a).
The mining sector in Montenegro has produced large quantities of toxic waste and is a
relevant source of soil pollution. An open pit mine for coal exploitation has produced about
70 million tonnes of waste, whereas 3.9 million tonnes of tailings from the lead and zinc
mines were deposited on the bank of the Ćehotina River, after changing the river’s course
(UNECE 2015a). Montenegro has now a project to restore the water course of the river
after the excavation of the toxic waste (Environment South East Europe, 2021), which will
need to be properly treated to avoid further pollution offsite.
Metal production has long been a tradition in Montenegro, however lately there has been
a decline in smelting plants in favour of food, wood, and paper processing plants. There is
an urgent need in the country on the proper treatment of waste generated from past
industrial production as the red mud from the aluminium industry KAP which covers an
area of 420 000 m² is disposed in two basins (UNECE 2015a).
The Government of Montenegro, UNDP and the Organization for Security and Co-operation
in Europe (OSCE) implemented the Capacity Development Programme for Small Arms and
Light Weapons (Conventional Ammunition) Demilitarization and Safe Storage for
Montenegro (MONDEM) programme between 2007 and 2018 to reduce the exposure and
risk of the population and environment from stockpiles of weapons and ammunitions
originating from the Kosovo conflict. The program resulted in the disposal of 3 300 tonnes
of weapons and 128 tonnes of toxic substances, the reconstruction of an ammunition depot
and the partial demilitarisation of 1 806 tonnes of obsolete ammunitions (UNDP, 2019).
Montenegro has an ongoing project on the identification and disposal/treatment of the
remaining PCBs in the country (amount estimated not less than 900 tonnes between
equipment and waste) funded by GEF and implemented by UNDP. The aim is to improve
regulations concerning PCBs, the creation of PCBs inventories, but also the development
of an environmental sound management to deal with hazardous waste such as PCBs in the
future (GEF, 2019d). Regarding persistent organic pollutants, Serbia and Montenegro
participated in a GEF-funded project implemented by UNEP, to support the implementation
of the Stockholm Convention, assist the countries in meeting up with the obligations of the
Convention and strengthen their capacity to manage POPs (GEF, 2019e). An ongoing GEF-
funded project on POPs implemented by United Nations Industrial Development
Organization (UNIDO) is the Environmentally-Sound Management and Final Disposal of
PCBs. The aim of the project is to reduce and eliminate the releases and exposures to PCBs
by establishing an environmental safer PCB management and disposal of 200 tonnes of
PCBs.
Two separate monitoring systems are implemented in the country, one for determining soil
quality and another for detecting hazardous substances along agricultural soils close to
roads, landfills, and industrial facilities. The soil pollution monitoring analyses inorganic,
organic and pesticide pollution, but only for point-source pollution and not for diffuse
63
sources. Despite the monitoring system, Montenegro seems to be lacking plans on how to
deal with point-source pollution and the development of an inventory of the polluted sites
(UNECE 2015a). Although conducting regular soil quality surveys, there is very limited
information on the treatment and management of polluted sites (UNECE 2015a).
North Macedonia
Soil pollution in North Macedonia is mainly due to trace elements such as cadmium, lead
and zinc in the vicinity of mines in north-eastern parts of Macedonia (Zletovo, Toranica,
Sasa), as well as in the central part of the country (smelter in Veles) (MOEPP, 2017). Soils
in the capital, Skopje, are heavily polluted. An area of about 200 ha is covered with landfills
that can potentially have polluted the soil beneath them. Out of a total of 70 contaminated
sites covering 429.6 km2, 16 of them are of major concern as shown in Figure 33.
The mining and smelting industries are also major sources of soil pollution by cadmium,
lead and zinc (MOEPP, 2017). High concentrations of trace elements exceeding reference
levels have been detected along the Kiselica and Zletovska rivers and are associated with
an old emission following the breaking of mine tailings (JICA, 2008). In addition, the use
of low efficiency technologies employing the use of other organic compounds for the
extraction of trace elements contributes to soil pollution also by organic contaminants such
as PCBs (MOEPP, 2017).
Open-pit coal mines and power plants in Bitola and Oslomej have contributed to the poor
air quality of the capital Skopje, named the most polluted capital in Europe in 2018
(Bennett, 2019), and are also partly responsible for the enrichment in trace elements such
as arsenic and lead in the surrounding soils (Stafilov et al., 2014; 2018). However, the
Oslomej plant has taken a big step towards decarbonisation and thus emission reductions
by transforming it into a photovoltaic power plant (Bennett, 2019).
After a two-year project in collaboration with FAO and the GSP, North Macedonia launched
the Macedonian Soil Information System “MASIS” in 2015, which is publicly available online
(FAO, 2015; MASIS, 2015). The system offers limited information on polluted sites within
the Macedonian Environmental Information Centre and a proper soil pollution monitoring
system does not exist in the country. In the city of Skopje, soil monitoring campaigns were
carried out in 2012 to analyse concentrations of trace elements (UNECE, 2019a).
Figure 33 The 16 major pollution hotspots in North Macedonia.
Source: UN, 2020 modified with data from MOEPP, 2017.
64
High concentrations of trace elements were detected in drinking water and wheat
associated with mining activities near residential and agricultural areas, posing a high risk
to local populations (JICA, 2008). Measures to avoid health consequences should be taken
to prevent leaching from mining tailings dams into the soil and the consequent transfer of
contaminants from soil to crops and water. Mining rehabilitation is not practised in the
country although the 2012 law on mineral resources requires a financial guarantee for
rehabilitation and waste management of mining projects. The country has no practical
experience in land rehabilitation because until now, when a mining concession ended, the
Ministry extended the concession. Although there is no law addressing historical pollution
from mining and industry, it is worth noting that the country proposed a draft law on soil
protection in 2014 (UNECE, 2019b). Although the law was not passed for a variety of
reasons, including its financial implications, it still suggests that soil is part of the national
political agenda (UNECE, 2019a).
Since 2010, North Macedonia has devolved many efforts to improving the management of
chemicals by working on the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management
(SAICM). New laws on waste management, such as the National Waste Management Plan
and the National Waste Prevention Plan, are expected to be adopted since 2020. Laws such
as the Packaging waste and E-waste are currently being drafted. The advancement in the
sound management of chemicals, besides reinforcing policies, has also contributed to the
development of remediation plans of contaminated sites from waste /UNECE, 2019b).
Additional research has been conducted in phytoremediation with promising results
(Manasievska-Simikj et al., 2018).
Serbia
Serbia has 709 contaminated sites covering 3 203.7 km2 (Ana Payá Pérez and Natalia
Rodríguez Eugenio 2018). The municipal waste disposal is responsible for 43.5% of the
polluted sites included in the National Inventory of Contaminated Sites (UNECE, 2015b).
Furthermore, some long-lasting industrial sites have produced industrial landfills, namely
from mineral and coal mining activities that can be a source of point-source pollution.
Serbia hosts a cadastre of polluted sites 14 that is legally regulated through the Regulation
on the Programme of Systematic Monitoring of Soil Quality via Indicators for Assessment
of Soil Degradation Risk and Methodology for Creation of Remediation Programmes and
the Regulation on Limit Values for Polluting, Harmful and Hazardous Substances in the Soil.
Republic of Serbia adopted a Decree on systematic monitoring of the soil state and quality,
(OG 73/19) which determines the content of the Soil Monitoring Programme and of the
national and local soil monitoring network. A list of parameters which are to be monitored
describe the methods and standards to be used for soil sampling, sample analysis and data
processing, as well as indicators for the assessment of land degradation risks.
The Soil Monitoring Programme at the national level for a two years’ period has been
drafted and will be prepared and implemented by the Ministry on Environmental Protection
and funded from the budget of the Republic of Serbia. A set of indicators, listed in the
National List of indicators of environmental protection, are used to assess the risks of soil
degradation. A national laboratory on soil analysis was established and is part of the
Serbian Environmental Protection Agency structure and has been equipped thanks to the
donations and the support of donors, such as the EU (UNECE, 2015b).
The indicators which refer to management of contaminated sites provide information on
the progress done in the management of polluted sites, but also give information on what
types of remediation measure should be implemented (MEP and EPA, 2018). Nevertheless,
Serbia does not conduct any regular soil monitoring, and the existence of reports on
polluted hot spots is due to pilot projects with the involvement of external donors (UNECE,
2015b).
14
http://kkl.sepa.gov.rs:8080/apex/f?p=100:1:13031145667939
65
Soil Information System is an integral part of the unified Environmental Protection
Information System run by the Serbian Environmental Protection Agency. The Cadastre of
Contaminated Sites is a part of the Soil Information System, and includes a set of data on
polluted, vulnerable, and degraded soils. The latest information reports 709 potentially
contaminated sites, of which 557 are registered in the cadastre (Vidojevic, 2018).
However, the inventory does not include former military locations, petrol stations, dry
cleaning, wastewater treatment plants and hazardous substances pipelines (MEP and EPA,
2018).
Serbia has many ongoing projects funded by GEF and other donors to help the country
deal with soil pollution from former industrial activities and improper past waste disposal.
A project that ended in 2019 was the Enhanced Cross-Sectoral Land Management through
Land Use Pressure Reduction and Planning project, which was implemented by UNEP and
funded by GEF and the Italian Ministry of Environment, Land and Sea (Falconi et al, 2018).
UNEP has analysed the soil, water, and sediments of 32 sites and trained local authorities
to monitor and address soil remediation. As a result, a map of polluted sites and a national
platform to share information on land degradation and management was created (UNEP,
2019b).
A debate in Serbia that involves the public opinion, scientific experts and politicians is on
the association with depleted uranium from the NATO bombing in 1999 and cancer
incidence, especially in children. In 2018, the Serbian Parliament approved a law proposal
for an Inquiry Commission to carry out a two-year investigation programme to determine
the effects of DU on the health of the Serbian citizens and the environment. The
programme was officially signed and agreed by the ministries of environmental protection,
health, defence, education, and science and technological development and the complete
results were foreseen to be published in 2020 (ANS, 2018; Simic, 2018). In 2019, for the
20th anniversary from the bombing a second international symposium on the
“Consequences of the bombing of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia” was held in Nis,
Serbia (Kukin, 2019).
6. Soil sealing and net land take
A first assessment of soil sealing in the Western Balkans shows that 0.87%
of the total land area is covered. Agriculture land appears to have
experienced the biggest loses. Land take and sealing is driven by rapid
economic expansion and housing needs.
Soil sealing causes the complete and irreversible loss of all soil functions. Urban expansion
and infrastructure consume soils by physical removal or covering them with impermeable
(impervious) artificial material (e.g. asphalt and concrete), though only part of the land
that is defined as land take is actually sealed. Loss of fertile land to urban development
reduces the potential to produce bio-based materials and fuels that support a low-carbon
bioeconomy.
Most recent available data for soil sealing trends and dynamics in the Western Balkans are
given by EEA SOER2020 report (Figure 34). In 2006 the sealed area was 0.87% out of the
total land area of the region (Figures 35 and 36). The problem is that various publication
and data sources, which overall are scarce, often provide contradicting trends.
Data on the extent of sealing in terms of surface area (hectares or km2) are also missing
with sporadic assessment for specific countries. For instance, in North Macedonia the rate
of conversion of the land for the period 2000-2016 will keep the same trend by 2040 based
on a simple extrapolation method (Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning, 2021).
66
In Serbia the total area of agricultural land on which the conversion is made into artificial
surfaces in the period 1990-2012 was 11 367ha.
Figure 34 Net land take in the EEA-39 (including Western Balkans) for the period 2000-2018
Source: EEA, SOER report 2020
Figure 35 A close up of the sealed areas in the Western Balkans
67
Figure 36 Percentage of impermeable soil in 2006 in percent
Albania: 0.73
Bosnia
Herzegovina: 1.08
Kosovo: 1.56
Montenegro: 0.76
North Macedonia:
1.09
Serbia: 1.09
Regional: 0.87%
Source: An ever less fertile Europe / All the news / Homepage - Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso
Transeuropa (balcanicaucaso.org)
Figure 37 Soil sealing trends for the period 2006-2012
Albania: 11%
Bosnia Herzegovina:
3%
Kosovo: -1%
Montenegro: 0%
North Macedonia:
28%
Serbia: 1%
Source: An ever less fertile Europe / All the news / Homepage - Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso
Transeuropa (balcanicaucaso.org)
Figure 38 presents land take in the EEA-39 during the period 2012-2018, as the share of
the country’s area (EEA, 2019b), which allows for comparison of countries of different
sizes. Land take in the Western Balkans was the highest in Kosovo, North Macedonia,
Montenegro, Serbia, and Albania in the decreasing order. Whereas was no recultivation in
North Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia, the process was evident in Albania and Kosovo.
68
Figure 38 Country comparison - land take and land recultivation in the EEA-39 for the period 2012-
2018 (as a share of country’s area)
69
Albania: a case study
The Albanian landscape after the political change of the 90s and during the period 2000-
2006 have been clearly dominated by urban residential sprawl over agricultural land.
Sprawl areas expanded mainly in surroundings of the capital city Tirana (Figure 39) and
along the main transportation networks to other big cities such as Durres, Fier, Vlore,
Shkoder, as well as along the Adriatic and Ionian coast (Figure 40). The annual rate of land
take was at 4.69% per year mostly driven by housing needs, followed by industrial
activities and infrastructure (Fig. 41). The biggest “loser” was the agriculture land followed
by semi-natural vegetation and forested areas especially along the coastal areas (Ministry
of Tourism and Environment, 2019).
After 2006 a new trend in land take is taking place driven by economic expansion, big
infrastructure projects and by the extension of industrial and commercial units. This was
due to reinforcement rules for housing to avoid the catastrophic/chaotic situation that was
seen especially in the surroundings of Tirana (Fig. 40) and other large cities. For the period
2006-2012, the annual rate of land take fell to 0.47%, which is still high compared with
EU levels (Ministry of Tourism and Environment, 2019). Overall, it is estimated that for the
period 1990-2020 Albania has lost at least 50 000 hectares of agriculture land (personal
communication).
Figure 39 Tirana in 2021, a city of 1 million people compared with 250 000 in 1990
Source: Wikipedia, public domain
70
Figure 40 Land cover changes for the period 2000-2006
Source: Albanian Ministry of Tourism and Environment. 2019
Figure 41 Land take in Albania by category
Source: Albanian Ministry of Tourism and Environment. 2019
71
4.2.6 Salinization
Salinity, sodicity and magnesial rich soils, cover large areas in Serbia, North
Macedonia, and Albania. The process is caused by natural conditions and
unsustainable irrigation practices. Overall, it is estimated that these areas cover less
than 10% of the whole territory of the Western Balkans.
Saline and sodic soils (Solonchaks and Solonetz) are scarcely present in the region, except
in parts of Serbia, North Macedonia, and Albania where salinity build up is on the rise. For
instance, until 1990 Albania (Figure 42) had about 10 000 ha of salt affected soils (Zdruli,
2005), but that surface area has expanded rapidly due to abandonment of these areas
after the collapse of the Communism period and lack of amelioration measures reaching
30,000 ha in 2019 (Ministry of Tourism and Environment, 2019).
Figure 42 Saline areas in the coastal area of Rremas (Divjake) in Albania
Photo credit: Zdruli, 2001
Management of saline soils is costly and a long process that requires continuous
investments otherwise salinity build up can expand rapidly and nullify previous
investments. This happened in Albania. Conversely, present technologies offer good
options for their re-cultivation. At the same site of Rremas that was surveyed in 2001
(Zdruli et al., 2002) at present, a successful enterprise is growing salt tolerant
pomegranates and goji berry fruits in a 500 ha farm. This is good example of management
practices that could be replicated in similar soils.
72
Figure 43 Cultivation of pomegranates and goji berry fruits in the Agro Iliria farm in Divjake.
Credit: https://www.facebook.com/Agro.Iliria.Group
Limited areas of secondary salinisation are also reported in North Macedonia. These are
mostly the result of poor quality irrigation water (Aleksovska et al., 2016).
The region is also home to a special soil type called in Serbian language Smonitsa (Stebut,
1927), or the dark black heavy clay Chromic Vertisol with high magnesium content in the
soil absorption complex formed on serpentine mafic geological formations. They are very
compacted and hard to dig in dry conditions since clay content could reach as high as 80%.
In Albania alone there are about 12 000 ha, but these soil types are present throughout
the Western Balkans. Acid low pH soils are also present in the region, especially in Albania
where they cover about 90,000 ha.
73
4.2.7 Desertification
None of the countries meet the criteria of aridity index as described by the UNCCD.
Nevertheless, land degradation in the general context is present in all the countries
with erosion as the most prominent factor affecting large areas (overlap with soil
health indicator 3).
The countries of the Western Balkans are included in the Annex IV (Albania) and Annex V
(all the rest) of the UNCCD. In strict content of desertification based on the aridity index
of UNCCD as “land degradation in arid, semi-arid, and dry sub-humid areas” none of
the countries meet this criterion. Nevertheless, the most relevant, in terms of proximity to
aridity index, the desertification process is relevant in Albania and Montenegro due to their
exposure to hot Mediterranean climate along the coasts. Hence the affected area for each
country should be in the range of 25% of their territories.
In Albania, Zdruli and Lushaj (2000) and Zdruli et al., (2016) report deforestation,
overgrazing, soil pollution, re-salinisation, acidification, water logging, flooding,
urbanization, soil sealing, nutrient mining, loss of soil fertility and accelerated soil erosion
as perhaps the most alarming environmental problems in Albania.
Montenegro is facing several land degradation factors from urbanization to unsustainable
land management as described in detail in this report. It could be that potentially degraded
land in the country, according to the land productivity dynamics (LPD) dataset, to be
around 5.44% (LDN, UNCCD, 2018). But forest fires are of particular concern since in 2017
alone, 13 750 ha were totally burnt (Montenegro report, 2018) and hence they are
identified as the most critical type of land degradation. The situation was repeated again
in 2021 devastating also millenary olive groves around the city of Ulqin. In the meantime,
the main indirect drivers of land degradation and desertification for the last two or three
decades have been population pressure, migration from rural to urban areas, increase of
touristic capacities, land tenure changes, poverty, labor availability and lack of financial in
The landlocked Bosnia and Herzegovina (which has only a very small part on the coast) is
experiencing land degradation in various forms affecting about 1.2 million people in 2010.
The annual cost of land degradation is estimated at 99 million USD. This is equal to 8.2%
of the country's agricultural Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Instead, the returns on acting
against land degradation are estimated at 6 USD for each dollar invested in restoring
degraded land (Bosnia and Herzegovina report, 2018).
In North Macedonia the most prominent processes of land degradation include erosion,
loss of soil organic matter, soil sealing while in Serbia soil erosion is the prime degradation
process affecting about 80% of agricultural soil.
4.2.8 Soil biodiversity
Soil as a habitat, is a large but often forgotten consideration of the discussions on global
biodiversity. A healthy soil depends on a vibrant range of lifeforms living below the ground,
from bacteria and fungi to tiny insects, earthworms and moles. Soil biodiversity is critical
because of its role in the cycling of ecosystem nutrients that are necessary for plant growth,
improved entry of water into soil and its storage in the soil, providing resistance to erosion,
the suppression of pests, parasites and disease, increased capture and storage of organic
carbon, as well as breaking down organic matter.
It is likely that all the above drivers are probably singly or in combination resulting in a
decline in biodiversity but there are no actual data demonstrating soil biodiversity in the
Western Balkans or changes in the composition or abundance of soil dwelling communities.
74
4.2.9 Soil biodiversity
Soil as a habitat, is a large but often forgotten consideration of the discussions on global
biodiversity. A healthy soil depends on a vibrant range of lifeforms living below the ground,
from bacteria and fungi to tiny insects, earthworms and moles. Soil biodiversity is critical
because of its role in the cycling of ecosystem nutrients that are necessary for plant growth,
improved entry of water into soil and its storage in the soil, providing resistance to erosion,
the suppression of pests, parasites and disease, increased capture and storage of organic
carbon, as well as breaking down organic matter.
It is likely that all the above drivers are probably singly or in combination resulting in a
decline in biodiversity but there are no actual data demonstrating soil biodiversity in the
Western Balkans or changes in the composition or abundance of soil dwelling communities.
75
5 Conclusions
This study presents an updated analysis of the status of soil health in the Western Balkans
region as of 2021. A number of reflections have been extracted and presented. The report
concluded that soils are under pressure the Western Balkans region. Soil degradation is
prevalent and extensive. However, the intensity of pressures affecting soil health varies
between countries. Soil erosion is the most relevant and aggressive process. It is estimated
that about 45% of the total land area is affected by water erosion while the area of
agriculture land affected is around 30%.
One common shortcoming encountered, as is often the case when assessing the status of
many environmental issues in the Western Balkans, is the scarcity and fragmentation of
data in terms of spatial coverage and timeliness (referring to current status and analysis
of trends). Field data are the basis for both the identification of critical situations and the
development of effective and efficient policies. Therefore, the establishment of monitoring
networks with sufficient coverage in space and time and completeness of the analysed
parameters is a cross-cutting priority for the issues addressed in this report.
There is heightened policy interest in soils because of the range of ecosystem goods and
services that they provide and their relevance to the objectives of the European Green
Deal. The new EU Soil Strategy has the objective of bringing all EU soils into a healthy
condition by 2050 on the basis of a broad range of actions that should generally be
implemented by 2030. In this context, the Commission will look to integrate the sustainable
use of soils across all relevant EU policies, be it agriculture, biodiversity, circular economy,
climate, urban development, or pollution.
Implementation of a soil protection framework to ensure heathy soils is a priority for the
implementation of the Green Agenda for the Western Balkans. This requires coherent
action across a broad policy base.
Making sustainable soil management the new normal requires coordination as well as
action at local, regional, national, EU and global level to promote and implement such
practices. A key element will be the identification and adoption of practices, including
regenerative farming in line with agro-ecological principles, which are relevant to the target
area reflecting inherent soil characteristics and land use needs. Close links should be
established with the work of the Mission ’A Soil Deal for Europe’ to set up Living Labs and
Lighthouses of as flagships of best practices that are applicable to issues affecting soils in
the Western Balkans.
The EU Soil Observatory (EUSO), in particular through its Technical Working Groups on
Monitoring, Data Integration, Pollution, Biodiversity, Citizen Engagement, together with
the European Environment Agency (EEA) as well as through contacts with MS, research
and industry, are establishing a roadmap for an integrated soil monitoring and indicator
framework that should collect data to feed a soil dashboard that assesses the effectiveness
of policies and their respective instruments in reaching critical targets. Such a framework
aim to bring together pan-EU and national initiatives while supporting the reestablishment
or reinforcement of monitoring systems that for a variety of reasons, are no longer
operational. Pan-EU soil initiatives (such as LUCAS, EUSO, Clean Soil Outlook), should be
expanded to cover the Western Balkan region.
In parallel, the Commission will consider setting legal requirements for healthy soils so that
their capacity to deliver ecosystem services are not hampered. In this regard, the
Commission is working to adopt a new Soil Health Law by 2023 to give soils the same EU-
wide legal basis as air and water. In this regards, soil will have to be considered under the
accession process.
76
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86
Annex 1. Synthesis of final methodology and metadata for
spatial evidence
After a careful collection of available existing information and its critical review the
methodology was finalized and applied during the assessment process. Following the
standard procedure of the Soil Mission report, all soil health indicators for the Western
Balkans were analysed in detail and their extent at country and regional level was
assessed. It should be noted however that data availability is overall poor, and its quality
depends on country specifics, for instance is much better in North Macedonia, Serbia,
Montenegro, and Albania and rather problematic in Bosnia and Herzegovina and
particularly in Kosovo. Therefore, the methodology remains largely based on educated
expert assessments and the inputs provided by national experts.
Each soil health indicator was evaluated for each country and various land use and land
cover types. They were grouped in three different categories and assessed against the
various affected soil services as shown in table 1 below.
Table 1. Soil degradation types, corresponding soil threats and affected soil services Degradation type
Soil degradation types Impact of soil threats Affected soil services

Soil physical degradation Subsoil compaction Growth of crops
Soil erosion Wood & fibre production
Landslides Water storage
Substance filtering
Storage of geological material
Carbon storage
Habitat for plants, insects, microbes, etc.
Support for buildings or transport
network
Soil chemical degradation Accumulation of contaminants Growth of crops
and nutrients in soil
Wood & fibre production
Salinisation
Water storage
Acidification
Substance filtering
Carbon storage
Habitat for plants, insects, microbes, etc.
Soil biological degradation Accumulation of contaminants Habitat for plants, insects, microbes, etc.
and nutrients in soil
Water storage
Reduced humus formation and
Substance filtering
reduced metabolization of
contaminants Carbon storage
SOM/SOC decline
Source: Soil Mission report
87
Table 2 provides reference values for soil organic carbon, nutrient load, acidification, soil
pollution, erosion, biodiversity, compaction, and soil sealing. Note that these data are
largely missing, but as said, were used as baseline threshold values in the assessment
approach.
Table 2. Overview of soil threats and indicators investigated in this report
Soil threat Indicator Thresholds Comment

Soil organic carbon
Cropland Deceedance of optimal Sand: 1.5 (1.0-2.0) [% Values for extreme summer-dry
SOC SOC] areas can be lower (< -100
climate water balance)
Silt: 1.9 (1.4-2.4)
Values for optimal fertilizer
Loam and clay: 1.6 (1.0-
management (Wessolek et al.
2.8)
2008)
Proxy: sequestration potential
Nutrients
Agriculture Exceedance of critical NH3 in air: 1 – 3 [mg NH3 Mineral N: sum of available NH4
levels of mineral nitrogen m-3] and NO3
(agricultural land)
NO3 in ground water: 50
[mg NO3 l-1]
N in surface water: 1.0 to
2.5 [mg N l-1]
Forest N limitation based on C/N 20-25 in the organic layer
exceedance of C/N ratio
leakage from forests: 1
[mg N l-1]
Agriculture Deceedance of optimal P concentration 25-35 Extractable P concentration <
phosphorus (optimal P fertility class) optimum (value range refers to
Mehlich 3-ICP; also available: P-
Bray P1 and Olsen P)
Forest land P limitation based on N/P ratio > 18 (coniferous in the organic layer
exceedance of N/P ratio forests)
N/P ratio > 25 (deciduous
forests)
Acidification
Agriculture Critical pH levels pH < 4.5 - 4.7
Forest land Critical inorganic Al levels base cation/aluminium Bc: Ca+Mg+K
ratio = 1 (0.5-2.0)
Soil pollution
Cropland Exceedance of screening Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn by Country-specific values vary
values for critical risk country [mg/kg] broadly and are not necessarily
from heavy metal comparable
(Arsenic could be added;
pollution
others?)
88
Stratification by land use and
soil texture
Soil erosion
Agriculture Actual rate of soil loss by 2 [t ha-1 yr-1] Threshold for shallow soils < 70
water erosion cm: 2 t/ha/yr (Switzerland)
(soil loss tolerance)
Soil formation rate: 0.3 to 1.4
t/ha/yr (Verheijen et al. 2009)
All erosion types
Soil biodiversity
Loss of soil biodiversity to be developed: requires sub-indicators by species
(subindicators) (functional) group
(a) safe minimum standard of
conservation
(b) Operating Ranges (OR) for
specific soil animals and
microorganisms
Soil compaction
Harmful subsoil compaction Priority (sub) indicators: Exceedance of “action values” (Zink et al.
(subindicators) 2011)
Saturated hydraulic conductivity
(Ks) < 10 [cm/d] Secondary subindicators with available
thresholds: bulk density, internal soil
Air capacity (AC) < 5 [%]
strength, air permeability and oxygen
diffusion
Soil sealing
Sealed area per total area National targets to achieve No Net Land Take
Source: Soil monitoring in Europe Indicators and thresholds for soil quality assessments Version 24,
September 2021 for review. EEA ETC/ULS Report 2021. Editors: Rainer Baritz (EEA), Gundula Prokop
and Marco Trombetti (ETC/ULS)
Table 3 Metadata sources
Albania Bosnia& Kosovo Montenegro North Serbia

Herzegovina Macedonia
Nutrients Publications Publications Publications Publications Publications Publications
National National National National National National
reports and reports and reports and reports and reports and reports and
statistics statistics statistics statistics statistics statistics
Organic Publications Publications Limited data Publications, Publications, Publications,
carbon UNCCD FAO funded national
reporting project funding
Erosion Publications Publications Limited data Publications Publications Publications
national national national
research research research
projects projects, projects
FAO funded
project
Compaction No data No data No data Limited data No data Limited data
89
Pollution EEA reports, EEA reports, EEA reports, EEA reports, EEA reports, EEA reports,
national national national national national national
reports, UN reports, UN reports, UN reports, UN reports, UN reports, UN
reports, reports, reports, reports, reports, reports,
research research research research research research
publications publications publications publications publications publications
Sealing Publications, Publications, No data Publications, Publications, Publications,
national national national national national
statistics statistics statistics statistics statistics
Desertification UNCCD UNCCD Not an issue UNCCD UNCCD UNCCD
reporting reporting reporting reporting reporting
Soil No data No data No data No data No data No data
biodiversity
It is suggested that apart from national data sources innovative proximal and remote sensing
and monitoring techniques should be further developed to allow rapid but accurate
measurements.
Some recommendations for the use of soil health indicators for soil monitoring
National soil surveys programmes should be launched without delay
The Western Balkans countries are relying on obsolete soil data for soil assessments and
monitoring. This has created a considerable gap between the status of soil health in the region
when compared with the EU countries. Therefore, there is an urgent need to embark in a soil
monitoring system that must be robust and able to provide reliable data for updating soil
policies, which are also required by the Sofia Declaration for the Western Balkans. Inspiration
should come also from the LUCAS soil survey when these data would be available, and the
second round of LUCAS should be also implemented.
Soil health indicators must be clearly defined and comparable throughout the region and
compatible with those implemented in the EU member states.
This would require that the definitions of indicators, and how they are determined (sampling,
analysis, evaluation method). These indicators should be identical between the countries and
in line with LUCAS Soil sampling procedure. Having said that, national soil survey programmes
could implement standard soil survey procedures that better fit national conditions.
Soil monitoring should provide the necessary framework for drafting policies for soil
protection and management.
90
Reliable data must be generated to depict spatially explicit policy-relevant indicators for
developing harmonization procedures, and for enhancing the region-wide use of harmonized
indicators. The resolutions of the corresponding indicator maps will depend on the national
and regional plot densities, but they should be INSPIRE compatible. The establishment of a
regional soil information system should be encouraged.
A region-wide network of soil scientists must be established
The number of soil scientists in the region is declining rapidly and this would create severe
problems soon. It is strongly encouraged the establishment of the Western Balkans Soil
Partnership in close collaboration with European Soil Partnership, Alpine Soil partnership,
GSP, JRC and all activities to be launched in the context of the Mission A Soil Deal for Europe.
The Western Balkans soil scientists should be integral part of all these initiatives and
developments.
91
List of figures
Figure 1 The location of Western Balkan countries ..................................................... 5
Figure 2 Simplified geological map of the west-central Balkan Peninsula, showing major
tectonic zones and ophiolite occurrences. ................................................................. 9
Figure 3 Fertile soils derived from loess on the Pannonian plain in Serbia ....................10
Figure 4 Climatic conditions in Europe. Mean annual air temperature on the upper part
and annual precipitation in the lower map. Note the higher temperatures along the
Mediterranean coast and the higher precipitation in the border between Albania and
Montenegro. In Montenegro at the village of Crkvice (940 m above sea level), an annual
rate 7,000 mm has been recorded making it the rainiest place in Europe.....................12
Figure 5 General representation of the soil distribution in the Western Balkans. (The red
line shows the delineation of the Mediterranean watershed). ......................................13
Figure 6 Different sources of Nitrogen load into the Danube River basin .....................22
Figure 7 Amount of NPK (kg/ha) of cropland from chemical fertilizers. Note the drastic
decline after the political change of 1990. ................................................................23
Figure 8 Temporal variability of NPK input, output, and balance for agriculture crops in
Albania for the period 1950-2019. ..........................................................................23
Figure 9 Fertiliser consumption in Bosnia and Herzegovina for the period 2007-2018.
Note the descending trend after the year 2015.........................................................24
Figure 10 Trends in fertiliser use for the period 2004-2019 in Kosovo ........................25
Figure 11. Nitrogen concentration (mg/l) in surface waters of Kosovo .........................26
Figure 12 Phosphorus concentration in surface waters for the period 2008-2019 ..........26
Figure 13 Fertiliser consumption and worldwide ranking of Montenegro for fertiliser use 27
Figure 14. Fertiliser consumption and worldwide ranking of Serbia for fertiliser use ......28
Figure 15 Total SOC stocks (Pg) and mean SOC stocks (t/ha) per WRB name. .............30
Figure 16 Topsoil (0-30 cm) SOCs of Europe. Large parts of the Western Balkans are not
covered due to lack of data. Carbon stocks are generally in the lower range. ...............30
Figure 17 Mean annual temperature and average rainfall data for Kosovo ....................33
Figure 18 CORINE 2012 land cover for Kosovo .........................................................34
Figure 19 Land productivity dynamics and soil organic carbon stocks in Montenegro .....35
Figure 20 Areas under organic farming in North Macedonia ........................................38
Figure 21 Soil organic matter in agricultural soil to the depth of 0-30 cm (%) ..............40
Figure 22 Coastal erosion has been characterized by increased sediment deposits at the
river Seman in Fier along the Adriatic coast eroding beaches further away from the river
mouth which had led in changes of the coastline. Note that in the 1970s, the bunker was
150 m inland of the coast but by 2004 was fully covered by the sea. ..........................42
Figure 23 (a) Calculated long-term average specific soil loss rates in Albania; (b)
Agricultural and natural source areas of soil erosion in Albania; (c) Sediment transport by
the main watercourses of Albania. ..........................................................................44
Figure 24 Terraces in Mallakaster, south Albania for cultivation of olives......................45
Figure 25 Soil erosion map of the Republic of Srpska prepared in 2011 .......................45
Figure 26 New soil erosion map for Kosovo ..............................................................48
Figure 27 Sites in need of investigation (a) and number of remediated sites (b) ...........53
92
Figure 28 Distribution of serpentine formations and associated soils in Albania .............56
Figure 29 Concentration of Zn and Ni (above) and Cr and Pb (below) at Elbasan
metallurgical complex ...........................................................................................57
Figure 30 Plastic accumulated on the sides of a river in Albania .................................58
Figure 31 Hot spots of soil pollution in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the major
contaminants of concern as identified in the National Implementation Plan of the
Stockholm Convention. .........................................................................................60
Figure 32 The huge lignite excavation site at Obiliq that fuels two huge power plants
inside the Kastriot Municipality. This is the major source of electricity for Kosovo .........62
Figure 33 The 16 major pollution hotspots in North Macedonia. .................................64
Figure 34 Net land take in the EEA-39 (including Western Balkans) for the period 2000-
2018 ...................................................................................................................67
Figure 35 A close up of the sealed areas in the Western Balkans ................................67
Figure 36 Percentage of impermeable soil in 2006 in percent .....................................68
Figure 37 Soil sealing trends for the period 2006-2012.............................................68
Figure 38 Country comparison - land take and land recultivation in the EEA-39 for the
period 2012-2018 (as a share of country’s area) ......................................................69
Figure 39 Tirana in 2021, a city of 1 million people compared with 250,000 in 1990 .....70
Figure 40 Land cover changes for the period 2000-2006 ...........................................71
Figure 41 Land take in Albania by category ..............................................................71
Figure 42 Saline areas in the coastal area of Rremas (Divjake) in Albania ....................72
Figure 43 Cultivation of pomegranates and goji berry fruits in the Agro Iliria farm in
Divjake. ..............................................................................................................73
93
List of tables
Table 1 Summary of land use/land cover for the Western Balkans countries as of 2020 .16
Table 2 Summary of soil health indicators and their pressures on agriculture land for the
Western Balkans countries .....................................................................................18
Table 3 Total area of greenhouses and horticulture crops ..........................................21
Table 4 Summary of sub-indicators of net land productivity dynamics in Montenegro ....36
Table 5 Changes in SOC stocks based on land use conversions for the period 2000-2010
..........................................................................................................................37
Table 6 Areas, total amounts, and proportions of the specific soil loss rate classes in
Albania................................................................................................................44
Table 7 Categories of soil erosion and their respective areas ......................................46
Table 8 Percentage of soil erosion categories according to different land use types .......46
Table 9 Erosion intensity in Kosovo .........................................................................47
Table 10 Erosion distribution in North Macedonia ......................................................49
Table 11 Erosion intensity between North Macedonia, Serbia, and Bulgaria ..................49
Table 12 Number of polluted or potentially polluted sites included in national inventories.
..........................................................................................................................54
Table 13 Heavy metals concentrations (ppm) in soils of serpentine zone .....................55
Table 14 Drivers, sources, and location of contamination sites in Albania.....................59
94
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Soil health in the Western Balkans

Zdruli, P.; Wojda. P. & Jones, A.

PDF ISBN 978-92-76-55210-9 ISSN 1831-9424 doi:10.2760/653515

Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 2022

© European Union, 2022

Unless indicated otherwise, all content © European Union, 2022.

List of figures ...................................................................................................... 92

Zdruli, P.; Wojda. P. & Jones, A.

1.1 Why this report

Source: Google Maps

The adoption, implementation, and enforcement of the EU acquis on Environment is an

2.1 Geomorphological setting, climatic conditions, and associated

Source: Dilek et al., 2007.

Source: Wikipedia, public domain

Other important geomorphologic formations are the karsts, particularly distributed in

Data adapted from Karger et al., (2017).

Source: Soil Atlas of Europe (Jones A, Montanarella, L, Jones R. 2005)

Cambisols, Luvisols, Chernozems, Kastanozems, Phaeozems, Umbrisols, and Fluvisols are

Agriculture land1 Organic Forest and areas Permanent Other areas3

Regional land use land cover (%)

Albania Bosnia & Herzegovina Kosovo

Soil health indicators: pressures on agriculture land

4.1 Regional status

4.1.1 Summary of the existing data

• Agriculture area 6 in WB: 5 503 154 ha or 21.44% of the land area

• Croplands occupies 5 146 367 ha of the 19.93% of the land area

Country Greenhouses Horticulture crops Total

Nitrate Vulnerable Zones (NVZ)

Source: Draft DRBM Plan – Update 2015

Source: Gjoka et al., 2021

Source: Gjoka et al., 2021

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Figure 10 Trends in fertiliser use for the period 2004-2019 in Kosovo

Source: Kosovo environment 2020 report

Source: Kosovo environment 2020 report

Figure 12 presents the trend of phosphorus orthophosphate concentration (mg / l) in

Figure 12 Phosphorus concentration in surface waters for the period 2008-2019

Source: Kosovo environment 2020 report

4.2.2 Organic carbon

Source: FAO and ITPS, 202)

Source: Tahirsylaj, et al., 2016

Figure 18 CORINE 2012 land cover for Kosovo

Source: Tahirsylaj, et al., 2016

Source: LDN, UNCCD, 2018

Table 4 Summary of sub-indicators of net land productivity dynamics in Montenegro

Source: LDN, UNCCD, 2018

Source: LDN, UNCCD, 2018

Figure 20 Areas under organic farming in North Macedonia

Source: Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning

Source: Vidojevic et al., 2016

4.2.3 Water Erosion

Source: Lushaj and Zdruli, 2006.

Source: Kovats, 2012

Source: Kovats, 2012

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Figure 25 Soil erosion map of the Republic of Srpska prepared in 2011

Source; Tosic, et al., 2013

Table 7 Categories of soil erosion and their respective areas

Source Tosic, 2013