The Joint UNESCO/IUCN advisory mission visited the Durmitor National Park twice last year, upon the government’s request, to assess the overall state of conservation of the World Heritage site. A report from the second mission is still pending, but the first confirmed that the exceptional universal value of the site has not been lost and pointed out to potential pressures on this national park.
In an interview for Dnevne Novine daily, Managing Director of the Environmental Directorate in the Ministry of Sustainable Development and Tourism, MORiT, Ms Ivana Vojinović, told the outcomes of the mission are soon to be announced.
“The fact that in 2019 we initiated the process of registering beech forests in Biogradska Gora for the UNESCO’s World Heritage list also indicates a quite satisfactory state of conservation and non-existence of any kind of degradation of this national park,” Ms Vojinović added.
Having said that five national parks of Montenegro make up even 7.7 per cent of its territory, she also explained that based on the National Parks Law, even 46 activities for which fines ranging from €100 to €4,000 for citizens and €1,000 to €40,000 for companies, are forbidden in them.
As for the revenues, she added, the national parks Durmitor and Skadar Lake generate the most: “When it comes to capital investments and the economic valorisation of parks, especially due to the national and international protection of some of them, there has been an intensive work in recent years to improve their infrastructure and thus attract new visitors. In addition, based on the five-year management plan, annual management programs are being drawn up as well as financial plans for every national park.”
