Capacity building for conservation of the subterranean biodiversity of the Skadar/Shkodra Lake basin (Montenegro and Albania)

Assessment of the endangered subterranean biodiversity of the Skadar/Shkodra Lake Basin (Montenegro and Albania)? conducted in 2016 with the support of the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF, www.cepf.net), a global nature conservation fund which enables civil society to protect the world's biodiversity hotspots. Luigj Gurakuqi? (Albania), the Scientific Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts (Slovenia), and the Department of Life Sciences at the University of Trieste (Italy). The following main threats to the subterranean habitats of the study area were identified during this project: * unregulated infrastructure (sewage systems only in larger towns, with ineffective wastewater treatment; public landfills and illegal dumps placed on vulnerable karst locations); one such case is the town of Cetinje, with an underground outlet into Skadar Lake through the cave system of the Obodska pećina; * agriculture, through massive use of fertilizers, particularly viticulture in the catchment area of karst springs; * no organized trash collection and recycling in rural areas, rubbish dumped in nature (nearly all caves around settlements serve as illegal dumping sites); * unregulated construction of tourist facilities, mostly on the coast of the Adriatic Sea and Skadar Lake, with notable pressure on important trans-border biodiversity areas of Montenegro and Albania, such as Buljarica, Ulcinj Salina, parts of Skadar Lake National Park, etc.; * uncontrolled growing of built-up areas around Shkodra's karst region (Albania) coupled with exploitation of new quarries and intensive water pumping for drinking water necessities for the local community; * several type localities of endemic subterranean species have already been destroyed (B. Sket, pers. comm. The overall outcomes of the project showed that the activities performed during the capacity building were bringing an added value to the scientific part of the project, building bridges and trustworthy partners for future international conservation actions and research in the Southeastern Dinaric karst.