This short report is produced within the frame of the BiodivBalkans project (2012-2016). This project is dedicated to foster rural development in mountainous regions through the construction of Signs of Quality and Origin (SIQO). One of its main outputs was to shed the light on the pastoral and localized livestock systems in Albania and in Balkan's surrounding countries, as a central issue for biodiversity conservation through the maintenance of High Nature Value farming systems. They are an important component of European agriculture not only for the conservation of biodiversity, but also for cultural heritage, quality products, and rural employment. The core experience of this project was (and still is) the creation of a Protected Geographical Indication on the "Hasi goat kid meat" based on stakeholders collective action and knowledge brokering. During that learning process and to effectively enforce the relation between rural development and biodiversity conservation, we used an original Ecological and Pastoral diagnosis method, imported from an EU Life+ program (Mil'Ouv, 2013-2017). This method was pioneered in France, then adapted and tested in Albania, in the Hasi Region first (2015), and this year on the Karaburun peninsula (2016). In both cases, an in-depth analysis of the local livestock's systems is preceding the diagnosis implementation. Pastoralism is a pretty complex issue in that sense that it deals with a high diversity of situations which need local diagnosis at different scales with a decisive implication of local actors, especially the livestock farmers. They are key players in building adequate knowledge of these local situations: problems, opportunities, trends and threats… The originality of this Ecological and Pastoral diagnosis method is precisely to work at different scales (from the pastoral massif to the ecological topo-facies) and to elaborate a practical diagnosis with a trio composed by: a naturalist, a livestock specialist and the breeder himself/ or herself. Our main objective with these field-work notes is to convince local and national institutions in charge of the Albanian natural Protected Areas (PA) that this participatory & multi-scale method is a strong way to enhance & conceive inclusive “management plans”. Indeed, most of the protected areas in Albanian and in the Mediterranean regions of the Balkans include a large share of mountainous and hilly territories where pastoral activity is a major (if not essential) element of the rural and agricultural life and economics, and as such of the environment management.