As demonstrated in the latest EEA publication, the Western Balkans countries have continued to show great commitment and solidarity and are now a key part of the EEA/Eionet strategy design beyond 2020.

The Western Balkans are co-operating countries of the EEA and an official part of the Eionet partnership. A key prerequisite for environmental protection is access to quality data to estimate the scale of the challenges and identify the necessary measures. To this end, the Western Balkans full commitment was made possible by the EU funding instruments (initially through CARD – Community Assistance for Reconstruction  and then through IPA – Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance) enabling them to fully contribute in the whole range of EEA regular data flows, indicators and assessment processes.

There are many joint challenges that the six Western Balkans are tackling in the environmental field such as pollution and discharge of wastewater and its harmful impact on human health and the surrounding environment, gentrification, agricultural land abandonment, loss of coastal habitats and the loss of the rich biodiversity which is progressively pressing on the ecosystem's balance.

For an overview of the specific progress made, key achievements and a glimpse of the way ahead in each countries see here