Director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Milan Gazdić announced this evening that his statement that Kotor will lose its status as a natural and cultural-historical area on the UNESCO World Heritage List and that the National Park "Durmitor" will be put on the red list is reckless. and to apologize for the inaccuracies.
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"The UNESCO summit in Riyadh will be very difficult for Montenegro. I hope that it will not happen, but there are reports that the NP "Durmitor" will be put on the red list, and there is information that Kotor will be kicked out, which is in my opinion, the defeat of the state of Montenegro. This was literally stated at the press conference held on the occasion of 15 years of work of the Environmental Protection Agency. This reckless statement caused a great storm in the public, and on this occasion I apologize for the inaccuracy. On the status of Montenegro with UNESCO I received information from two sources: one who claims that Durmitor will be put on the red list due to poor management and that the question is whether, due to urbanization, the Bay of Kotor-Risan will remain on the list. The other source confirmed to me that Montenegro will be given the last chance to improve planning and management in its UNESCO heritage," Gazdić pointed out, and it was published on the EPA's Facebook page.
He added that he is obliged to clarify the statement from the point of view of the Agency he leads.
"The suffering of Durmitor National Park over the last three decades is evident, as confirmed by several UNESCO expert missions. This national park was established in 1952 on 39.000 ha. Due to illegal construction, this area was reduced fifteen years ago to 32.200 ha. As a non-financial compensation for the lost on the territory of the park, at the request of UNESCO, it is planned to join Dragišnica and Komarnica, which has not happened so far. Instead, the Ministry of Agriculture declares Dragišnica/Komarnica a special purpose hunting ground, contrary to UNESCO's recommendations. Illegal logging and construction has continued. The Forest Administration owns one map the border of the park, NP "Durmitor" owns another, and it is cut in the dark. Just last year, at one location within the park (and the Forestry Administration), 248 cubic meters of century-old spruces and firs were cut, which is why the Agency is conducting a damage procedure in the environment," Gazdić said.
He said that as far as Kotor is concerned, the Agency has three procedures for issuing environmental consent for three quarries above Risno (clearly visible from the coast).
"Permit issuing procedures have been stopped pending a statement from UNESCO, despite the opposition of the MKI, which believes that UNESCO should not be asked about this, and the Municipality of Kotor, which considers that the quarries are not disputed because the PP of the Municipality of Kotor has received the green light from UNESCO. In the Agency, contrary to the MKI and the Municipality Kotor we believe that quarries and UNESCO do not go together. Especially since above Risno there is already an unlicensed quarry with significant landscape pollution of UNESCO heritage. I am sorry that my press statement had this connotation. Let's not be too fooled, I am also sorry , regardless of any UNESCO decision, that there is a national consensus that both UNESCO sites are significantly endangered, which is visible to the naked eye, and can also be read in UNESCO reports," Gazdić concluded.
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