It is much worse to be a "former" on the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage List than to have never been on it, and for a tourist country like Montenegro, such a thing would be catastrophic... Montenegro has not yet reached that stage, but taking everything into account, it is walking on the very edge and remaining on the list or falling from it is uncertain if it continues to work as it has been, that is, if the situation in Kotor and Boka remains the same when it comes to construction, planning, urbanization. In order for this not to happen, it is necessary to enter the trend of joint construction for everyone's benefit. This is the conclusion of Biljana Gligorović at yesterday's online debate on the state of the natural and cultural-historical area of Kotor, which was organized by the non-governmental organization "Expeditio", as part of the project "Active citizens for a better Montenegro - Towards the rule of law and sustainable development of Montenegro", which is implemented The NGO "Network for the Affirmation of the Non-Governmental Sector" (MANS) in cooperation with the NGO "Montenegro Society of Ecologists", "Green Home" and CZIP, with the support of the European Union through the Delegation of the European Union in Montenegro.
"The situation we are currently in, due to the corona virus pandemic, even more clearly indicates the failures and unsustainable approaches in the 'development' of the area of Kotor, which relied exclusively on mass cruise tourism and which are reflected in excessive urbanization (primarily apartment and tourist capacities ), the devastation of the cultural landscape, which is the greatest value of the area, but also the extinction of life and loss of services in historic settlements and cities. All these negative changes are especially now very clearly visible in the area... Although the natural and cultural-historical area of Kotor has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List for 40 years, the World Heritage Committee since 2003 has continuously and clearly pointed out the problems that are present in this area, and primarily those related to excessive urbanization, but also an ineffective system of protection, planning and management. Also, for a number of years, both the professional public and the civil sector from the area of Kotor have been pointing to a truly alarming situation in the World Heritage area", pointed out Aleksandra Kapetanović and Biljana Gligorović from the NGO "Expeditio" and added that such, "already an alarming situation in area of the natural and cultural-historical area of Kotor", the impetus for the organization of this online event, which was realized yesterday via the zoom application. "Vijesti" interlocutors pointed out that the biggest problems facing the Boko Kotor heritage are: continuous devastation of the World Heritage cultural landscape, extremely bad planning documents for this area that do not contribute to its protection, dysfunctional and collapsed systems of cultural heritage protection and spatial planning, ineffective system management and, regardless of formal efforts, the absence of a sincere will on the part of those in charge to change things.
Transformation of the landscape
Kapetanović pointed out that the transformation of the landscape is particularly pronounced, noticeable initially in Kostanjica, and more recently in Dobrota, which represents a "ground for excessive urbanization and transformation" which loses the value of the authentic settlement of that area. "Planning is key and we must not allow events to be missed. We have an example that in areas that are extremely important for the area of Kotor and are the visual rappers of this area, interventions are taking place that completely change the character of the space... One of these is a residential tower, unfortunately, visible from all corners of the bay... These are the results of inadequate spatial planning, and we are witnessing right now, that many structures that have been built are empty, and due to the degradation of the quality of life, the local population is leaving their place of residence", she said during the debate and pointed out that UNESCO and the international community can preserve this area help only with guidelines and recommendations, but it is up to us to further apply and implement it. One of the findings of the debate is that the protected area must have a different treatment, that is - spatial planning must be in the function of protection and development, "and what we are witnessing is not development".
There is a lack of competent institutions
It is necessary to gather a wider circle of people - professionals in the process of planning and construction and make that process transparent.
Civic and environmental activist Patricia Pobrić pointed out that the people who deal with these issues are not professionals and that it is they who make (bad) decisions and compile (bad) documents that then only connect to each other. Architect Ilija Lalošević believes that "competent and powerful opinion of institutions is missing".
"Of course, it is missing when our institutions were brought to what they were brought to. From the former powerful planning services where every location was discussed, and only with big moves, we have come to this... The problem started with the collapse of institutions that were deliberately collapsed so that the scenario we have today would be in force", he said, among other things. Lalosevic. He also noted that a special problem is the "interpretation" of the moratorium, because lawyers often find "curves" and "holes" that do not exist for architects. "For us engineers, if we say 'moratorium', then it means something 'morto', then construction is dead, and construction stops, but here it is more alive than it was decades ago, and it is also incomparably more inadequate," he said. he.
Lack of social responsibility
Ivan Vratnica, a Montenegrin architect who lives and works in Vienna, pointed out that the biggest problem in Montenegro is the ignorance of society and individuals, and then the lack of social responsibility.
"Everyone individually should be aware of the value of our heritage, and the institutions that citizens pay for must be the real key to accountability and accountability," he said.
When asked by "Vijesti" what kind of cooperation the NGO "Expeditio" has with local and state institutions, they said that they are often uninvited - not included in the processes.
"As a non-governmental organization, we can say professional, we have always been open to cooperation with institutions and ready to share our knowledge and experience. Very openly and from a professional point of view, we always point out all the problems and failures of the system, we also regularly and transparently state our opinions and remarks in public, and we send them to the World Heritage Committee, which we consider our obligation. So, local and state institutions often bypass us in key topics, do not include or, more precisely, do not take our opinion seriously enough before it becomes identical to the opinion of some higher, usually foreign, instances", said Kapetanović and Gligorović.
We are not aware of the value of the burnt site
When asked by "Vijesti" what kind of relationship is evidenced by the statement of Kotor municipality president Željko Aprcović when it comes to the fire at the San Giovanni fortress, in which he emotionally justifies the case that happened, Kapetanović and Gligorović emphasize that precisely such statements confirm that the cultural heritage protection system does not work.
"All the statements we could hear regarding the incident at the Kotor fortress, unfortunately, only confirm that our cultural heritage protection system does not work at all and that we are not aware of the value of the site, which was then put in serious danger by inadmissible recklessness. Kotor Fortress has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1979 as part of the Natural and Cultural-Historical Area of Kotor, and since 2017 additionally as an individual cultural asset, within the series nomination of Venetian Fortifications. For Kotor Fortress, we would have to have: first of all, a detailed survey and analysis of the current state, a serious plan of use and conservation project, and then a management plan in which all procedures related to the protection, use and maintenance of the fortress would have to be defined. It is unbelievable and unacceptable that we, as a country, have none of that! However, even in a situation where we do not have these basic documents, the authorities and institutions that manage this area would have to know about the procedures that must be applied for any interventions on such an important cultural asset. From everything that was available to the public about the Kotor fortress, it is clear and devastating that unfortunately the authorities do not even know that and that we cannot even use this exceptional building in an appropriate way without endangering it", the interviewees of "Vijesti" point out. ".
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