Official Website

https://seerural.org/category/soil-partnership/

Governance

The Western Balkans Soil Partnership (WBSP) is governed by the WBSP Steering Committee (WBSP SC), which comprises representatives of the WBSP members, from each of the country/territory (member of the Regional Expert Advisory Working Group on soil) which are based on proposals by the ministerial partners. The WBSP SC has a mandate to develop and decide on the organisational structure and statutes of the WBSP, the work programme thereof, as well as to harmonise WBSP activities with the activities of the European Soil Partnership, and of other similar organisations. WBSP will also have an Advisory Board with five members with a function to advise WBSP SC on issues related to governance and other strategic activities.

A chair will be appointed by WBSP SC members.
A Secretariat of the WBSP will be established with the following roles:

• Communication management of members and interested partners
• Information collection and operation and updating of a web site
• Organization of meetings
• Overview of projects
• Monitoring and reporting

SWG RRD as an organization will embed the Secretariat within its structures in its headquarters in Skopje, North Macedonia.
Regular meetings of the steering and implementation body as well as other interested members and partners will collect experiences from implementation, and also discuss needs and requirements expressed by stakeholders. There is no fixed meeting schedule.

Contact

The Standing Working Group for Regional Rural Development (SWG RRD) is coordinating all activities.

Contact person for all inquiries regarding Western Balkans Soil Partnership:
Mr. Boban Ilic, Secretary General
Head Office/Secretariat of the SWG
 

E-Mail: swgsecretariat@swg-seerural.org

Countries

Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, Republic of North Macedonia, Serbia

History

Under the Green Agenda for the Western Balkans, the creation of a sub-regional soil partnership was foreseen. Mediated by the project “Agriculture Policy Dialog Germany – Western Balkan”, that had been established under the Standing Working Group in South-Eastern Europe (SWG), a Regional Expert Advisory Working Group on Soil Management (REAWG) was set in place. The REAWG then prepared background papers, the communiqué and a roadmap for the creation of the Western Balkan Soil Partnership.

In November 2022 the Ministers of Agriculture from South Eastern Europe (SEE) and Heads of Delegation came together in Budva, Montenegro for the 16th Annual Working Meeting. During this meeting they signed the Communiqué/Memorandum of Understanding on the Soil Partnership of the Western Balkans.

Guiding principles

Guiding principles for this partnership are received from the following initiatives:

• the ‘Green Agenda for Western Balkans’ (GAWB), building on the Sofia Declaration 2020, and the Action plan for the implementation of the GAWB Brdo pri Kranju 2021, addressing the challenges to safeguard healthy soils for the Balkan region
• the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) tackling land degradation
• the Global Soil Partnership (GSP), its revised World Soil Charter and the Voluntary Guidelines for Sustainable Soil Management