The government has known since the beginning of the construction of the highway that any works in the bed of Tara could delete this river from the list of world biosphere reserves of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
Yesterday, "Vijesti" published photos of the Network for the Affirmation of the Non-Governmental Sector (MANS), which testify to the complete destruction of the Tara in the part where the construction of the Tara 1 and Tara 2 bridges is planned - the course of the river has been changed, the bed has been moved, support pillars have been installed, and construction machines are gravel and sand. The competent state authorities claim that they are doing everything in accordance with the regulations.
The Government was warned about the possible destruction of the river bed, and potentially the status of Tara on the UNESCO list, through the Strategic Environmental Impact Assessment, which accompanies the Detailed Spatial Plan of the Bar - Boljare highway.
In the document, obtained by the MANS Research Center, the Podgorica-Slovenian expert team reminds that the Tara basin is on the UNESCO list of world biosphere reserves, and that, in accordance with international conventions, Montenegro is obliged to "not intentionally undertake no measures that can directly or indirectly cause negative consequences for cultural and natural heritage".
The Strategic Environmental Impact Assessment on the DPP highway Bar - Boljare was commissioned by the Ministry of Economy, approved by the Department of Sustainable Development Minister Pavle Radulović, and the preparation of the Strategic Assessment was entrusted to the WINsoft consortium from Podgorica and the Slovenian company Geateh.
As the highway from Veruša via Mateševo to Trešnjevik passes right through the area of the Tara basin, this, according to the authors of the Strategic Assessment, can be considered a violation of the Convention. This, they add, would oblige the Montenegrin institutions, the M&B Committee, and the International Council for the Coordination of the M&B Program (ICC) to inform the UNESCO General Assembly about everything.
"And the final decision may be to delete the area from the List of World Biosphere Reserves," state the authors of the Strategic Assessment, the Podgorica company WINsoft and Geateh from Ljubljana.
The Network for the Affirmation of the Non-Governmental Sector (MANS) has published footage and photos that indicate the devastation of the Tara riverbed, on the part of the future highway, where the construction of the Tara 1 and Tara 2 bridges is planned.
The Executive Director of MANS, Vanja Ćalović Marković, reminds that the Government, by signing international conventions, undertook to preserve the Tara River as part of the protected area of world cultural heritage. "The document obtained by MANS shows that the Government of Montenegro knew that the Tara River could be threatened by the construction of the highway, because experts warned it about it, as well as that the Convention on the Protection of World Natural and Cultural Heritage (UNESCO) could be violated. Despite this, the state institutions allowed the devastation of the Tara bed to the extent that was discovered by the Research Center of MANS", she told "Vijesta".
Ćalović Marković adds that the public must be immediately informed about whether Tara is threatened with being removed from the UNESCO list of world biosphere reserves.
"After that, it is necessary to take all available measures immediately, in order to rehabilitate the existing situation and prevent further devastation," she said.
Biologists from the Faculty of Science (PMF) in Podgorica, who analyzed the bottom of the river, warn that the works on the highway affect the living world of the Tara River and its surroundings.
Group of professors from PMF since n2016. follows the fauna of the bottom of Tara.
In the monitoring report, they point out that during 2017 and 2018, the fauna of the bottom of the Tara River in the localities where the Chinese CRBC is building the future highway was completely destroyed.
"Compared to last year 2017, the abundance of the fauna community inhabiting the bottom is significantly lower. The abundance of the macroinvertebrate community in 2017 was 924 ind/m2, while in 2018 the abundance dropped to below 50 ind/m2. Diversity has also decreased significantly and the largest number of species groups was not registered at all by our research in 2018," said PMF professor Vladimir Pešić to "Vijesta". He adds that not a single species was found in the underground waters.
"The return of the bottom fauna community to its previous state on this stretch will be a long process, up to 10 years. The question is, however, whether the populations of rare and endemic species will ever recover," he said.
Pešić also adds that on the part of the Tara River from Mateševo to the upper reaches, there are two endemic species and a large number of rare species, the impact of which has not been investigated, but that these species may have been destroyed.
CRBC and the Environmental Inspection were also introduced to the study done by his team.
The Ministry of Sustainable Development and Tourism announced answers to questions about the future of Tara for today.
We protect it on paper and in front of Europe
Jovana Janjušević from the Center for the Protection and Study of Birds (CZIP) reminds that, apart from being on the UNESCO list of biosphere reserves, Tara, together with Durmitor, has been declared a world UNESCO heritage, and is part of the Emerald network and a future Natura 2000 area. Tara is also protected by the Declaration, which was adopted by the Parliament of Montenegro in 2004 at the request of the citizens.
"How is it possible that the same country that allowed this kind of devastation also adopted a Declaration at the level of the Assembly that placed Tara on a kind of pedestal among rivers, protecting it civilly, apostrophizing the prohibition of any other operations along its entire course," said Janjušević.
"Ozon" and "Breznica" are asking for a referendum: Rijeka or the highway
The ecological movement "Ozone" and the ecological society "Breznica" believe that the works in the bed of the Tara river degrade its ecosystem value, which causes unfathomable ecological and economic consequences and represents a further nonsense of the development direction of the ecological state defined by the Constitution.
They invited the representatives of the Parliament of Montenegro to help organize a referendum where the citizens would have their say on whether they want the highway's natural appearance to be changed due to the need to build it.
"The biggest ecocide in Europe is currently taking place in Montenegro. They are killing our Tara! The Chinese investor is not killing the Tara River. She is killed by DPS officials who spent their childhood near that river. We are not used to them expressing their emotions towards anything but their pockets", said Darko Šljivančanin, member of the Democrats in the Žabljak Municipal Assembly.
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