Having three of Prespa’s four perennial streams, three quarters of the Prespa basin population and 75 % of the agricultural land located on the side of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia in the Prespa Lakes Basin it becomes clear why effective, ecosystem-friendly water management on this side of Prespa is central to maintaining the ecosystem health of the entire transboundary Prespa Basin.

One of the key steps towards establishing integrated land and water management basis for maintaining and restoring ecosystem health in the Prespa Lake basin is development of an ‘ecosystem oriented’ watershed management plan for the Macro Prespa lake.

Therefore, the Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia supported by the UNDP GEF Transboundary Prespa project is striving to develop a Watershed management plan for the part of the basin in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, which will also consider water and land-use management aspects in the other two co-basin states. This plan will be in harmony with the provisions under the new Law on Water and the principles of integrated river basin management stemming from the EU Water Directive.

To develop the Terms of Reference, the National component of the project in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia in coordination with the Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning hosted a one-day workshop to gather comments and suggestions on the ToR.

This consultative workshop was held on March 18, 2009 and brought together representatives from the relevant ministries and institutions, which are directly or in other way part of the water management structures on local and national level.