Perović: Individuals got rich by destroying rivers and forests

It is of priority importance to calculate how much bad water and forest management has cost us as a society, said the director of the Ozone Environmental Movement, Aleksandar Perović, on the occasion of March 21, World Forest Day and March 22, Forest Water Day.

He stated that the absence of a strategic approach when it comes to water management is the biggest problem and the cause of the current very worrying situation.

"Although it is a resource of the future, it seems that the way in which decision-makers in Montenegro view water not only does not follow current trends, but it is as if traveling back in time and persistently insisting on the worst possible ways of valorization, such as uncontrolled exploitation gravel and sand, concreting of banks and riverbeds, pollution with waste and wastewater, construction of small hydropower plants, destruction of river ecosystems and much more, which is permanently stopped in developed countries", said Perović.

He discussed that the biggest problem is the absence of an assessment of the ecosystem value of water, expressed in terms of economic parameters and social impact, which is the basis for any further planning and the opening of a public debate on potentially profitable options for valorization.

"Until we have that, we will argue that it is being done spontaneously and that private interest is far above the public one, and that the occupation of the rivers is actually a real coup d'état and robbery of the most valuable resources of Montenegro," Perović said.

On the occasion of the World Day of Forests, which was celebrated today, Perović stated that "it is completely clear that it is also being done spontaneously, that it is guided by the private interest of the forest lobby, which has become enormously rich during the past three decades, since Montenegrin forests have been devastated in the most brutal way ".

"Sustainable forest management not only does not exist in our country, but we responsibly claim that in this area there is a visible space for competent judicial authorities to investigate corrupt and criminal activities, as evidenced by the huge number of cases that citizens throughout Montenegro have brought to the public. Examples of everyday criminal activities, such as illegal logging and theft of forest like those on Mount Vojnik, which cannot be done without the connection of crime with persons from the system, clearly indicate that it is a matter of tacit approval by the system.