Space management is the biggest problem of Montenegro as an ecological country, said ornithologist Darko Saveljić and warned that illegal construction has affected everything, including protected zones.
Montenegro marked 31 years since it was declared the first ecological country. This determination was also found in the first article of the Constitution, and at the end of last year the members of the Montenegrin Parliament voted to make September 20 a national holiday - the Day of the Ecological State.
Saveljić said that both waste and river pollution are problems that can be solved, but that the problem of space management and the construction of infrastructure, residential buildings, is unsolvable.
"I think that spatial management is the biggest problem of the ecological state of Montenegro, because it is not managed adequately and there is no clear vision of the development of the state," Saveljić told the MINA agency.
Saveljić warned that illegal construction has affected everything, including protected zones.
"Literally, in all reports on progress, there is that reference for illegal construction, including in protected areas," emphasized Saveljić.
He said that the problem of illegal construction can be solved by implementing the law.
"Inspection should react at the beginning of a problem, not when someone has already built a house or a large building. By implementing the law, I think it would be easy to deal with that wild construction," Saveljić said.
He believes that, if you were to compare Montenegro now and 30 years ago, the situation was incomparable.
Saveljić added that 30 years ago, Montenegro had industry, the aluminum plant as an extreme polluter, the Iron and Steel Factory, many factories that were serious polluters.
"Today we don't have such an industry, but I see as a permanently lost chance a part of the area of Montenegro that we have destroyed in the last 30 years through construction and development of the state without any special vision and not in accordance with the principles of an ecological state," said Saveljić.
As he said, in those 30 years, a lot of space was destroyed by the way of urbanization.
"But not much has been lost, we still have a great potential to be an ecological country", says Saveljić.
When asked what the biggest failures of the government in the last three decades, when it comes to ecology, Saveljić said that he sees inadequate management of resources and space as the biggest problem.
"We don't have a clear vision of building Montenegro, everything is absolutely chaotic, including the chaos of construction in protected areas," said Saveljić.
He added the problem of the management of protected areas.
Saveljić assessed that in all 30 years there was no special commitment to the ecological state, except for declarative ones.
"In Montenegro, for the past 30 years, we have failed to build strong institutions that are the most stable support for a strong state in all countries," said Saveljić.
He said that many legal provisions from European directives have been incorporated into the legislation.
"In Montenegro, we have a problem of disobeying the laws that we pass, I mean the laws as they are, if they were respected, Montenegro would very quickly be Switzerland when it comes to nature protection," said Saveljić.
Saveljić pointed out that Montenegro is a small country when it comes to bird habitats, that it is located on the Adriatic migrant corridor and millions of birds fly over Montenegro every year.
He said that they have completed the work on the red list of birds of Montenegro and that they have processed 227 species of birds.
"We have completely lost about a dozen species, primarily vultures, due to the fact that we have lost animal husbandry as a primary branch of agriculture. There are no more livestock that somehow become food for those vultures," said Saveljić.
As he pointed out, there are still hunters in Montenegro who think that it is courage to kill a ferocious eagle, the crusader eagles have disappeared.
Saveljić emphasized that large raptors, falcons and vultures, are on the way to disappear from Montenegro, a large number of these species, precisely because of a bad attitude towards nature.
As he said, 352 species of birds have been registered in Montenegro, out of 530 species in Europe.
He stated that more than 50 percent of Montenegro meets the EU standard for declaring Natura 2.000 habitats.
Asked if he sees this as a chance for the development of tourism, Saveljić said that tourists come to see what Europe has forgotten a long time ago, which is pristine nature, as they had it before.
"I think that the nature in Montenegro is our only saber for megdane with which we can go against every European country," Saveljić said.
Saveljić, speaking about poaching, said that every year there are many cases of poaching in Montenegro.
"I think that Montenegro is still not aware of what a scourge poaching is. You still have people who do not care to kill a protected species, it is still being hunted with illegal means, in protected areas, and species that are not allowed to be hunted are still being hunted," said Saveljic.
He assessed that the answer to climate change would be for Montenegro to decide what to do with the development of an ecological state, whether it will be hunting that has no benefit, or whether it will develop some sustainable forms of tourism.
Saveljić said that for 30 years, stories were heard that Montenegro is an ecological country, that people went to Žabljak and celebrated an ecological country, but that very little was done to make the country ecological.
"For the last two years, Montenegro has been in some sort of turbulent state, for 30 years things have been done wrongly without a clear vision of what we should be. We still have politicians who show interest in an ecological state, in everything that is written in the Declaration, but we are still wandering" , Saveljic stated.
He pointed out that it is possible to find a balance between nature protection and investments.
Saveljić believes that waste is one of the biggest problems, but that waste is a cultural problem, not an environmental problem.
"Because everything that we damaged, especially along the roads, can be repaired very quickly, I think it's a matter of culture, not ecology", added Saveljić.
As he said, the problem with waste in Montenegro is large landfills, such as slag landfills in Pljevlje, Gradac, mines planned in Montenegro, red mud.
Saveljić assessed that Montenegro needs to make a radical turn in its relationship with space, and that, according to him, is the only key to the country's success.
Asked how to solve the problem with mentality, he said that education is needed, but everyone who throws garbage out of their car knows that it is not good, and that Machiavellianism should be removed from everyday life.
"We need education, but we also need a penal policy, because I don't even believe that the Germans were so environmentally conscious 30 years ago, but fines were paid," said Saveljić.
He said that there are professors who do not work enough with students, and even worse, there are parents who do not teach their children good things and "until it starts at home, kindergartens and colleges are for nothing".
Saveljić, speaking about national parks, said that they are the pride of every country.
According to him, the management of the National Parks in Montenegro for the last 30 years, and the last two years, is an absolute continuation of the deterioration of the parks, arrogance, irresponsibility and ignorance of the fact that they manage the most important national interests in the country.
"The situation in the National Parks is quite alarming when it comes to biodiversity, and then the management of communal hygiene, wild construction, attitude towards everything, overall at a very low level, and that company needs to undergo a radical transformation if it wants to preserve the park," he said. Saveljic.
He believes that the people's awareness of the need to protect nature is maturing.
Saveljić added that, unfortunately, there is a continuation of the collapse of parks and that until the profession begins to manage these parks, until clear guidelines for the maintenance and development of parks are made, "there is no luck".
He said that Montenegrins should stop waving the flag and show their patriotism with sincere love for their country.
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