After the declaration of independence in 2008, Kosovo has sought to reach EU legal thresholds of environmental protection. It has adopted a wide environmental legal framework that however is suffering from important problems of enforcement and compliance. The weak implementation is considered to be at the root of illegal practices that are openly carried on in most of the territory of Kosovo: illegal logging, illegal hunting, illegal waste management, illegal building, destruction of cultural heritage of minorities, etc.

In Kosovo, types of conduct that damage the environment can be sanctioned by administrative or criminal rules and proceedings. There is not a general environmental law but several fragmented administrative laws covering different sectors. The Criminal Code introduces a chapter on crimes against nature that responds to the Kosovo context. The Environmental Inspectorate is the institution adopting administrative sanctions and initiating criminal procedures.