Besides criminal offences, actions with consequences in forest and pasture areas may also constitute an administrative offence. The year 2006 recorded the highest number of cases for both categories. The Ministry of Environment has referred this year 525 criminal offences. Meanwhile in the Statistical Yearbooks of the Ministry of Justice it is referred that only 162 were prosecuted. In 2012, the referred cases have decreased in number. This decline may also be due to the efficiency of forest protection inspectors, and legal changes in the organization of their work.
Source: Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Water Management and the Institute of Statistics [1]Processing and comments: ODA
The Ministry of Environment has referred the damage caused by such offences calculating the value for each case. Regardless of the fact that the number of criminal offences is much smaller than the number of administrative offences, their value in the years 2005-2009 is much higher, a trend which reversed only in the years 2010 and 2012.
The year 2010 has the highest level of administrative offences value of about 1.1 billion damage caused. The value recorded in this year is higher than the value of all other years together.
Source: Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Water Management and the Institute of Statistics [1]Processing and comments: ODA
Albania has undergone significant reduction in forest and pasture areas. The high number of acts that constitute offences and arson cases can illustrate this phenomenon. Currently, the relevant authorities have no clear inventory of forests and pastures, inventories that be updated with data on actions object of this research.