Alerta Basha

Type of the article: Research ArticleAbstract Natural resource protection is vital for sustainable development in Albania, where land, water, forests, and biodiversity support rural livelihoods, agriculture, tourism, and local welfare. The purpose of this study is to analyze socio-demographic and economic correlates of individuals' stated willingness to change habits for natural resource protection in Albania. Primary data were collected through a structured and anonymous questionnaire completed by 250 voluntary respondents between December 2025 and February 2026. An audit of the archived raw dataset against the questionnaire showed that Item 15 contained three response categories: Yes, Not sure, and No. For the Binary Logit analysis, an affirmative response was coded WTC = 1, whereas Not sure and No were coded WTC = 0; 77.2% of respondents gave an affirmative response. Age, education, income, and information were re-specified categorically, sparse adjacent categories were combined where necessary to avoid complete separation, and robust standard errors were used. The re-estimated model is jointly significant (LR = 34.76, p < 0.001; McFadden R2 = 0.129) and shows acceptable calibration (Hosmer-Lemeshow p = 0.449). Frequency of natural-resource use is positively associated with willingness to contribute (p < 0.001). Income categories are jointly associated with willingness to contribute (p = 0.023), but the pattern is not monotonic; gender, age, education, and information are not jointly significant. Probit and nonlinear-age sensitivity checks do not restore the previously reported negative age or information associations. The findings are interpreted as exploratory associations with stated pro-environmental intention, not as monetary willingness to pay or causal relationships.AcknowledgmentThe authors express their gratitude to all respondents who voluntarily participated in the survey and provided the primary data used in this study.

The pandemic outbreak began in Wuhan, Hubei province, China, in2019 and then spread to most of the world. The spread of the virus very quicklyencouraged social distancing, reflected by the closure of borders, the cancellationof flights, and the closure of financial markets, corporations, businesses,institutions, universities, and schools, as well as quarantining at home. COVID-19influenced lifestyle and human health and, above all, had a considerable impact onthe global economy. The crisis affected how and where we work, led to a sharp dropin employment and hours worked, and affected workers’ incomes, job security, andjob prospects for young people arriving on the labor market. The different trendsin the effects of COVID-19 are partially explained by the ability of businesses todigitalize. This research is focused on the outbreak of the pandemic, its impact onthe economy, industry, medicine, agriculture, tourism, etc., the challenges andopportunities of teleworking, and how to develop working online from home in thefuture. Understanding the value of working online can increase the development ofbusinesses towards digitalization, more employment opportunities, increase income,and minimize the cost of living. However, there are several practical challenges andassociated risks of valuing teleworking that affect its application in practice.

The agricultural vocational education secondary school (AVESS) system in Albania, is organized through 8 institutions located in various regions, that tend to respond to entire the national demand, giving equal opportunities to all interested students, regardless of their place of residence. In these regards, the Albanian government has implemented several measures to attract students to integrate AVESS and facilitate their integration in the labor market. Despite the various measures, including financial support or adapted facilities for students coming from families with low income or from remote areas. The territorial impact of AVES remains limited and shows a relatively low coverage. This phenomenon is not exclusive to agricultural professional schools that do not have dormitories, but even to vocational schools that have dormitories and adequate facilities. Aiming towards a sustainable agricultural sector development and an efficient sectoral labor market, that tends to guarantee equal opportunities for the new generations, the objectives of the study are AVESS Gap identification, factors that impact AVESS attendance, assessment of the impact of governmental measures, and proposing recommendations for a sustainable AVESS system. To understand what are the main factors that influence the territorial impact of AVESS, a consolidated assessment has been performed during 2020-2021, passing through desk research, screening, focus groups, working groups, experts and agricultural representative interviews, and visit to relevant agricultural businesses, workshops, and dedicated surveys targeting teachers, students, and local businesses. Out of the assessment results, family income is the main factor influencing AVESS attendance. Regardless if schools have dormitory facilities or not, as the distance between students’ homes and the vocational school’s location increases, family income also tends to increase, but at a decreasing rate. Students coming from families with modest incomes show a lower mobility and beyond a certain distance they are less likely to register in AVESS located far from their residence. By testing three main hypotheses, it has been noticed that home-school distance negatively affects the attendance of students coming from families with lower incomes. In other words, family income plays a significant role in determining school attendance, particularly when considering the distance between students' homes and AVESS. Considering this finding and the low AVESS territorial impact, imply that the governmental financial incentives have a low impact and do not offer equal opportunities to all students, especially the ones residing far away from AVESS and coming from families with low incomes. In this context, new policies could be taken into account, such as enlarging the number of AVESS or evaluating the possibility to open agricultural vocational education secondary classes in general high schools located in rural areas.