Montenegro occupies only 0,01 percent of the world's land area, but its territory contains 1,2 percent of the world's flora. Among them, there is a large number of endemics - 20 out of 220, as many as there are on the Balkan Peninsula and the Dinarides. Montenegro is also rich in other living things, many species are protected by national and international legislation, but Montenegro still has an important task unfinished - to date, a list of all the species that live on its territory has not been completed. The list of species protected by the national legislation is not complete and contains species that do not live or have disappeared from the territory of Montenegro, and it is also inconsistent with international conventions on nature protection.
Among other things, Bogić Gligorović, independent researcher, international expert on biodiversity and ecology, and biology teacher at the "Sutjeska" Elementary School in Podgorica told the "News" that.
Gligorović participated in the discovery of three new species for science - two species of leeches and one species of water snail, which bears his name - bogić montenegrospeum.
"Also, during my research, I found and published in scientific papers 12 species of dragonflies and 17 species of water bugs, which were not known in Montenegro. It is extremely satisfying to participate in the discovery of a new species for science or to find a new species for a country", he told about his work for the portal biodiversitet.me, which was recently published by the European Union in Montenegro.
The biodiversitet.me portal is part of the "I'm with you too" campaign. It was created as part of the sustainable development strategy for the 21st century "Green Deal". On the website, it is stated that the main goal is for Europe to become the first climate-neutral continent and to completely abolish the emission of greenhouse gases by 2050, that the protection of biodiversity is one of the pillars of the "Green Agreement".
"And we can preserve the diversity in nature only if we protect the already endangered animals and plants", it says on the portal.
How rich is Montenegro
Biodiversity is the diversity of the living world on Earth, explains Gligorović.
"It is assumed that up to 10 million species live on our planet, most of which have not yet been discovered for science. In terms of the wealth of biodiversity, Montenegro represents one of the most significant areas of Europe. "Due to the geographical position, wealth of relief forms, waters and diverse climate types, there is a whole series of habitats of different types in a relatively small territory that provide living conditions for a large number of species of plants and animals," he said.
Thus, 70 percent of mammal species, 75 percent of bird species, 50 percent of freshwater fish species, 79 percent of marine fish species, 30 percent of plant species, as well as a significant number of relict and endemic species live on the territory of Montenegro, as a percentage compared to Europe.
"Until now, around 1.500 types of algae have been registered with us, and it is assumed that this number is significantly higher. In the last 20 years, mushrooms have been researched more intensively in Montenegro, so more than 2.000 species have been registered so far. "Scientists believe that there are more than 4.500 species, and 94 species are on the Red List of endangered European mushrooms," said Gligorović.
According to data from the literature, he adds, 590 species of mosses and liverworts have been recorded in Montenegro.
"Which is a very large number in a small territory. Detailed research is underway," he says.
Scientists have so far found over 3.600 species of plants on the territory of Montenegro, which, according to Gligorović, puts it in first place among European countries in terms of surface area. As he said, the wealth of fauna is also extremely large.
"About 380 marine freshwater and land mollusk species have been recorded so far, and the endemism is expressed in spring and cave snail species, during the last decade a large number of species new to science were described, such as lukina plagigeieria, Bogić's montenegrospeum, lily's zeteana", says Gligorović.
Luke's plagigeieria, bogic's montenegrospeum and lily's zeteana, he explains, are the three rarest animals on Earth.
"Because they inhabit only two springs in Piperi and Martinići," he adds.
On Annex II of the Natura 2000 network, there is a pond clam, and the species protected by national legislation are the palastura and the fingerling.
Gligorović adds that worms, with the exception of leeches and aquatic small-bristled ologochaetes, have not been investigated in detail and reminds that two new species of leeches for science have recently been found - the cursed dune and the Balkan glossiphonia.
Protection of Nature
In 1872, the first national park in the world was declared - "Yellowstone", in the United States of America. Only six years later, in the area around Lake Biograd, the "Prince's Ban" was created, later the "King Nikola's Bumper". Those years can be counted as the beginning of nature protection in Montenegro, says Gligorović. Today, Montenegro has five national parks, and other protected areas such as parks and natural monuments, reserves...
Nature protection is regulated by a number of legal acts, such as the law on the protection of certain plant and animal species, the law on national parks, the law on marine fisheries... In addition, Montenegro is a signatory to a number of conventions on the protection of biodiversity, among which the Bernese Convention convention on the protection of European wildlife and natural habitats, Barcelona Convention, CITES, Convention on Biological Diversity, Ramsar, Bonn Convention, ACCOBAMS Convention, UNESCO Convention on the Protection of World Natural and Cultural Heritage, and the European Convention on Landscapes. In Montenegro, the creation of a network of Natura 2000 protected areas, the EU directive on protected species and habitats, is underway.
What hasn't been done, actually hasn't even started, says Gligorović, is the creation of red lists and red books and the categorization of species into IUCN categories of the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
"The national legislation in Montenegro protects 873 species, of which six species of algae, 111 mushrooms, 27 mosses, two species of ferns, 272 higher plants, nine sponges, seven corals, six arthropods, 18 molluscs, five spider-like arthropods, four species crustaceans, 14 insects, six echinoderms, 11 species of fish, 16 amphibians, 26 reptiles, 298 species of birds and 35 species of mammals", lists Gligorović.
Protected areas, he said, currently cover about 12 percent of the territory, the largest part of which consists of five national parks 'Durmitor', 'Skadarsko jezero', 'Lovćen', 'Biogradska gora' and 'Prokletije'. The remaining part consists of more than 40 protected areas within nature monuments, areas of special natural characteristics and reserves.
"The formation of a network of protected habitats and Natura 2000 species is underway, so the area and number of species under protection will be significantly larger," he said.
What threatens nature
According to Gligorović, there are many reasons why the ecosystem is degraded and fragmented, and these processes further lead to the reduction and even the disappearance of certain species.
Gligorović warns that due to hunting and poaching, certain species in Montenegro were on the verge of extinction or disappeared.
"Such an example is the Balkan lynx, which has been exterminated. The peregrine falcon was not found in the last research, but several specimens were found this year. The griffon vulture disappeared several decades ago due to wolf poisoning, the reduction of nomadic livestock farming and lack of food, during this year one specimen of this species was seen," he said.
The disappearance of species, experts warn, permanently disrupts the ecological balance in different ecosystems. Thus, says Gligorović, the disappearance of insects that pollinate plants would have permanent consequences for nature and our current way of life. "The disappearance of predators such as the wolf in certain areas caused the overpopulation of different species of animals," he explains.
Wolf populations, he says, have recovered to a small extent, and thanks to intensive protection measures, the population of bears and chamois is also growing.
The pelican was also on the verge of extinction, but intensive conservation activities restored a large population on Lake Skadar.
"Urbanization in the coastal area has had a very negative effect on the river turtle, whose number has greatly decreased. The species of dragonflies, the great pintail and the eastern blue maiden, are threatened by the drying up of wetlands and small streams. The appearance of invasive species such as the Asian ladybird, blue crab, and palm tree, has led to the endangerment of certain plant species or a drastic decline in the number of domestic species. "Plant species are also threatened by the appearance of invasive species such as acacia, which occupy habitats on Lake Skadar and the Bojana delta," explains the "Vijesti" interlocutor.
There are numerous negative impacts on the ecosystem - urbanization, the construction of small hydropower plants, farms, intensive illegal and legal logging, fires, hunting and poaching, the spilling of waste and sewage water, an underdeveloped waste disposal system and the formation of illegal landfills... In addition, Gligorović adds. , the consequences of climate change are becoming more pronounced.
"They are manifested through the drying up of water, which is especially pronounced in springs and streams, which, in addition to swamps, represent the most endangered habitats," he said.
Abandoning earlier forms of life, such as nomadism, also affects the ecosystem. Due to fewer herders raising cattle and fewer people living in the countryside, meadows and pastures are growing and becoming forests. And that, explains Gligorović, also affects changes in species composition.
Necessary research and more biology classes
Gligorović says that the problem of the destruction of nature has been evident during the past decade, but also that the activities that are being implemented are "insufficient" because, as he said, the intensity of pressure on nature has increased many times at the same time. One of the problems he sees is the lack of data, and there is no data because, as he says, the funds for those expensive biological researches are also limited.
"There was no inventory of roof species - species from the protected, Natura 2000, IUCN... list, and their distribution. The lack of databases, as well as red lists and books, are also very significant problems," he said.
Gligorović also said that there are no institutions that directly deal with conservation, and that this is "a big problem for the preservation of the living world."
According to him, this area is mostly regulated by law, but "application is questionable".
"The methodologies for the preparation of environmental impact assessment studies are not adequate and in them the part about biodiversity is reduced to a minimum. Protected areas are few in number and their conservation is mostly inadequately implemented, due to various illegal activities. The way of managing protected areas due to the large number of managers is not practical and not sustainable. The list of species that are protected by national legislation is incomplete, it contains species that do not live or have disappeared from the territory of Montenegro, and it is also not harmonized with international conventions on nature protection," he said.
Protection, as he said, is hindered by the low level of awareness of the importance of preserving biodiversity.
"During the last few years through school reform, the number of biology classes has been significantly reduced, which has significant negative consequences for the environment and the attitude towards it. And in the last Pisa test, the results in the field of science were worse by 14 places, compared to the previous test", he said, adding that it is necessary to carry out activities as soon as possible that will affect the change in the way of thinking - through education, i.e. increasing the number classes and supplementation of the subject biology program in schools, educational campaigns...
A territory that is (not) safe for vulture migration
Two griffon vultures, which are endangered and strictly protected by law, were shot on the territory of Montenegro in two years. The first - Perun, in 2018 at the Ulcinj salt pan, the second - Fojiška, recently in what is suspected to be the Piva area. Both birds are from Cres (Croatia) and were equipped with a satellite transmitter, in order to monitor the success of the migration.
"Last month, the vulture Fojiška headed south from Kvarner, following the autumn migration route of vultures towards Greece, Turkey, the Middle East and Africa, and Montenegro is a frequent and almost unavoidable point on this route. The vulture stopped and stayed for some time in the area of Piva, where it is suspected that it was hit, after which the ornithologists of the Center for the Protection and Study of Birds (CZIP) visited the locality where it was located. However, we were not able to find the soup, because the bird had moved on in the meantime", the CZIP announced yesterday.
The bird was also spotted on Lake Skadar.
"We went out to the field and found Fojiška with a necrotic wound and an open wing fracture. The bird was taken to the vet, and an X-ray showed a ball in the wing, which led to a fracture. Due to the condition in which the bird was found, and with the consent of the Beli Visitor Center from Cres, which followed Fojiška, the bird unfortunately had to be euthanized", said the NGO.
The data that as many as two vultures died on the territory of Montenegro, as they said, warns of the problem of poaching, and the question, they add, is what the real number of deaths is, "and to what degree is Montenegro a deadly trap for the migration of vultures".
Bonus video:
