Albania, Montenegro and North Macedonia have joined forces to tackle rising flood risks in the Drin River Basin, one of the most flood-prone regions in the Western Balkans, under a six-year, $9.15 million project backed by the Adaptation Fund and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
Floods along the Drin Basin – which stretches from North Macedonia’s mountain lakes to Albania’s Adriatic coast and includes parts of Kosovo and Montenegro – have long threatened farmland, homes and infrastructure. Climate change has intensified the risks, with extreme rainfall and poor land management increasing the frequency and severity of floods that cause about $10 million in annual damages.
The project, launched in 2019 and now concluding, focused on three areas: expanding hydrological monitoring and early warning systems, aligning national flood strategies with EU standards, and funding resilience measures such as drainage rehabilitation, embankment reinforcement and nature-based solutions.
In Albania, upgrades to the KK-5 drainage channel aim to protect farmland near Shkodër. In North Macedonia, riverbed works on the Sateska River are reducing sediment inflows into Lake Ohrid, easing flood risks and addressing UNESCO concerns. In Montenegro, reinforcement of the Gropat–Štodra embankment is safeguarding 7,000 hectares of farmland and 2,000 residents near Ulcinj.
Authorities say more than 33 hydrometeorological stations have been installed or upgraded across the three countries, improving forecasting and cutting flood model processing times from days to hours. Local action plans and early-warning systems are now in place for the 1.6 million people living in the basin, including 250,000 most exposed to flooding.
UNDP officials say the initiative leaves behind not only stronger flood defences but also deeper cross-border cooperation. “When it comes to climate change impacts such as flooding, it’s clear no country can face them alone,” said Ylber Mirta, a senior environment official in North Macedonia.