Protected nature provides a large number of ecosystem services necessary for life and work, which is why it is necessary to influence the awareness of citizens in all Montenegrin municipalities about the importance of environmental protection and the negative consequences caused by forest fires.
This was announced at the round table "Education in the function of fire prevention in the areas of national parks", which was organized by the Public Company for National Parks of Montenegro (JPNPCG) within the project "We for nature, nature for us", and which was financially supported by Montenegro national commission for UNESCO.
The director of JPNPCG, Elvir Klica, explained that the project will be implemented in the national parks "Durmitor" and "Biogradska gora" in order to prevent fires and increase awareness of the importance of protecting forest ecosystems.
"The project envisages the procurement of fire prevention equipment for these two protected areas, the organization of training and workshops for employees of the Protection Services and the printing of educational material intended for visitors to the national parks," said Klica.
He pointed out that the protection and prevention of fires is of great importance for the national parks of Montenegro, and that, as he explained, threats to forests can be caused by various factors, of which enormous ecological and economic losses are caused by fire.
"In this direction, the role of JPNPCG is not only reflected in preserving and improving the value of national parks, but also in educating the entire social community about the importance of their protection, bearing in mind that protected nature provides us with a large number of ecosystem services necessary for life and work", he pointed out. Germ.
He assessed that protected nature is an attractive place for nature lovers and tourists more than ever due to, as he added, global threats to the environment that are expressed in all regions of the world.
"This is precisely why one of the more priority roles of JPNPCG is the implementation of preventive fire protection measures. I would emphasize the need for joint engagement and the necessary coordination in the actions of all entities in the system of forest ecosystem protection against fire", concluded Klica.
The Director General of the Directorate for Environmental Protection in the Ministry of Sustainable Development and Tourism, Ivana Vojinović, said that fires of all scales and levels are possible in Montenegro.
"As a result of possible fires, of larger or smaller scale, there may be certain consequences for the population that lives and works in the vicinity of the fire, for rescuers, employees, facilities and infrastructure, but also for the entire environment. Therefore, fire protection must be the concern of the entire society, because the forest and forest land represent one of the most important natural lands in Montenegro," said Vojinović.
She explained that forests and forest lands occupy 69 percent of the total area of Montenegro.
"One of the main goals is to reduce the risk of fire, prevent the occurrence of fires of catastrophic proportions. In Montenegro, a whole series of regulations are in force, directly or indirectly related to fire protection. It is necessary to influence the awareness of citizens in the territory of all municipalities of Montenegro about the importance of environmental protection and the negative consequences caused by the occurrence of fires in forests", stressed Vojinović.
The Director General of the Directorate for Forestry, Hunting and Wood Industry in the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Nezir Dacić, pointed out that forest resources are one of the key conditions for survival, and the risks of drastic damage to these resources, as he said, are growing with increasing the negative impact of climate change.
"Fires represent a growing problem and danger, and education about the function of forest fire prevention is something we must invest more and more in. "Not only in terms of education, but also by getting involved in international projects and regional and international forest fire protection systems," said Dacić.
He clarified that the forests in Montenegro, due to their geographical position on the Mediterranean and the increasingly pronounced influence of climatic phenomena, are particularly endangered.
Dacić pointed out that educating citizens from an early age is an important tool for fire prevention.
The Director General of the Directorate for Emergency Situations in the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Montenegro, Mirsad Mulić, said that climate change and global warming warn that we must be more prepared to respond to natural and technical-technological disasters.
"Forest fires, and therefore fires in national parks, represent a real danger for forests in Montenegro. They can occur on any scale, from incident to disaster. "Forest fires represent a permanent danger for the loss of forests and forest land, causing damage in the form of direct loss of wood mass, loss of protective and other functions of the forest, as well as endangering agricultural crops, settlements and human lives," said Mulić.
He pointed out that prevention is the best fight against fires.
"The Ministry of Internal Affairs, through the activities of the Directorate for Emergency Situations, implements preventive activities through the drafting of legal legislation and planning documentation, inspection supervision, education of the population and other measures and actions aimed at preventing forest fires," Mulić said.
He reminded that the department created the National Fire Protection Plan, as well as that more than 200 fire protection and rescue plans have been implemented, which represents, as he assessed, a good basis for the implementation of fire protection and rescue measures.
"Montenegro has the capacity to respond to forest fires that do not become catastrophic, but even in such situations we have a built-in system and mechanisms to ask for help on a bilateral basis or at important international addresses, primarily mechanisms for civil protection of the European Union and NATO. "Fires in national parks are not a rare phenomenon, protection against them requires the synchronized action of all competent services and authorities, which will also strengthen their capacities for fire protection," said Mulić.
The secretary of the Montenegrin National Commission for UNESCO, Milica Nikolić, said that part of the significant activities within the project funds allocated for the project "We for nature, nature for us", for which funds in the amount of 25 thousand US dollars were allocated, are carried out locally level.
"Local communities and governance from the local level is the essence of all activities addressed by UNESCO through its programs related to climate change. We believe that this project is very important because it will strengthen local capacities, and the National Parks will strengthen their capacities for risk management," Nikolić assessed.
She stated that the modern standards implemented by UNESCO contain management plans which, as she explained, must be part of the manager's plan of any property that is inscribed on the UNESCO list.
Nikolić said that it is important to focus all available capacities on strengthening inter-institutional cooperation because, as she stated, disaster management is impossible without strong and strong cooperation of all relevant institutions.
Slobodan Stijepović, expert associate at JPNPCG, explained that forests in national parks are special purpose forests.
"These are forests that have special natural values and are used for the purposes of scientific research, rest and recreation, recovery. Therefore, the management of these forests is carried out in a special way. "Forest management means improvement, use and presentation of the generally useful functions of forests," said Stijepović.
He said that all measures and activities carried out in the national parks of Montenegro are aimed at preserving the natural course of development of forest ecosystems and preserving the variety of biodiversity.
"Active and preventive measures that we implement are a set of all measures that are implemented with the aim of protection, prevention and active protection of forests, both due to fires and due to other negative impacts on forests. In JPNPCG, we strive for integral protection of forests in the area of parks, as well as the implementation of various types of monitoring," said Stijepović.
He stated that JPNPCG undertakes effective activities in the fight against forest fires in national parks.
"Preventive measures primarily involve proper planning and organization of fire protection. According to the types of preventive measures that are applied in National Parks, we can talk about the organization of the protection service, the procurement of fire-fighting equipment, the creation of a fire-fighting map, the training of personnel for the implementation of fire-fighting measures, and forecasting the danger of forest fires. Each national park in Montenegro has two field police stations, and we have also created an Android application through which citizens can report fires," explained Stijepović.
The representative of the Directorate for Emergency Situations, Ljuban Tmušić, emphasized the need, based on previous experience, to use international aid mechanisms to strengthen the system of civil protection and fire prevention.
He said that one of the priority activities is the preparation of the National Disaster Risk Assessment, as well as the need to continuously raise the level of awareness of the importance of fire protection and prevention.
The director of the Tara National Park, Dragić Karaklić, said that the most important thing when preventing fires is their quick detection and the shortest possible time from the detection of the fire to the arrival of the units on the scene.
"Tara National Park, which has an area of over ten thousand hectares, must have its own fire department. For now, we have built two observation towers, then all the other viewpoints, which are available to visitors, are also the places from which you can see most of the National Park. Then, we have active and passive on-call. In the summer months, duty is doubled, especially when there are extreme temperatures," explained Karaklić.
He said that there are always unforeseen situations.
"It is a bit illogical when we say that the highest percentage of fires are in March, April. It is clear that it is a human factor," said Karaklić.
Forestry and nature protection experts from the region also participated in the round table. Dragić Karaklić, director of NP Tara from Serbia, Đorđe Grozdanić from NP Fruška gora and Amarildo Mulić, director of NP Una from Bosnia and Herzegovina, spoke about their experiences from their national parks.
The moderator of the round table was Veselin Luburić, development advisor at JPNPCG. On the first day of the round table, welcoming and introductory speeches, presentations, expert discussion and making of preliminary conclusions were held, while on February 18, in Hotel Aurel, from 10 am to 12 pm, making of conclusions and closing of the round table is planned.
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