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The Republic of Albania has a land surface area of 28,750 km2, out of which 24.4% is classified as agricultural land, thus making land and soils very important natural resources for the country. However, problems with soil management and soil quality have led to land degradation, which is a significant threat to Albania’s socio-economic and environmental well-being. Soil erosion, transportation of silt and impoverishment of soil fertility cause soil losses that are estimated at an average of 16.4 t/ha annually (2010). Because of the fragility of ecosystems, the sustainable management of natural resources and more specifically land and soil, is pivotal to improving livelihoods, conserving ecosystem services, and ensuring reliable erosion and flood control. In this context, The Government of Albania, through the Ministry of Tourism and Environment, has gained GEF funds and UNEP support in implementing the project on “Promoting Sustainable Land Management (SLM) in Albania through Integrated Restoration of Ecosystems”, in order to remove existing barriers and strengthen skills and capacities of national and local stakeholders in Albania to undertake SLM approaches. It is expected that through this project Albania will enjoy an enhanced institutional and legislative environment to effectively mitigate the causes and negative impacts of land degradation through SLM practices. This project aims to achieve its objective through two main components: Component 1 - Strengthened legal and institutional framework and capacity building for SLM, and Component 2 - Demonstrating and Scaling-up of SLM Best Practices. Overall, the project activities will enable Albania to: 1) Shift from unsustainable to sustainable land use practices in the agriculture and forestry sectors; 2) Strengthen capacities and support Sustainable land management at both local and national levels including training for farming households and the development of legal and economic instruments for stimulating investments in land productivity; 3) Reduce the pressure on natural resources through the application of SLM practices and an increase of vegetative land cover at least on 120 ha of degraded areas. The project will identify degraded areas in the territory of the municipality through a set of degradation indicators. The sites will be mapped and a report will be drafted which will contain typology of degradation like deforestation, landslides, erosion, loss of biodiversity, overgrazing etc. A chapter of possible measures for rehabilitation of these degraded areas will be included in the report. The project will select 120 Ha of degraded forests and pasture lands, draw up three rehabilitation plans and rehabilitate these areas. Based on the causes of degradation identified and the measures described in the rehabilitation plans, trees will be planted, the area will be surrounded to eliminate the possibility of grazing for a certain period of time, small river dams can be built to reduce the speed of water during the rainy season, drainage canals can be opened, etc. These actions will lead to the landscape restoration, forest and pasturelands rehabilitation and lower the possibility of erosion and will influence increasing biodiversity of the areas. The project intends to benefit to the Kolonja municipality, which is one of the municipalities with a larger surface of forest and pasturelands in the territory of Albania forest, and pasture management and ecosystem. In particular, it contributes to the following ideal management objectives of the forest area • Improvement of environmental conditions of the farmers and community in Kolonja municipality; • Deforestation and reduction of biodiversity; • Improve the living conditions of the communities through sustainable use of natural resources; • Restoration of highly degraded forest, pasture lands in Kolonja Municipality with SLM demonstrations; • Raising awareness among stakeholders nationally and in Kolonja Municipality of land degradation issues and the importance of SLM approaches.