Tires, construction waste, dead animals, food scraps, textile waste, car parts, furniture - there is nothing that is not found in wild landfills, which are abundant in the territory of the "Rijeka Zeta" nature park (PP).
This protected area covers 120 square kilometers and belongs to the territories of the municipalities of Podgorica and Danilovgrad. The Podgorica side covers 26 square kilometers and is managed by the Podgorica Protected Areas Management Agency (AUZP), while the rest of the Park is in the Danilovgrad municipality.
The largest landfill covers one square kilometer and is located in Mareza, next to the main road, near the "Imanje Knjaz" restaurant, near Podgorica. It is a serious threat to the ecology and to the health of citizens.
According to the employees of the AUZP Protection Service, the rangers who control the part of the park on the territory of Podgorica, this large landfill floods with the first rains and the waste just spreads in that flooded area.
Illegal landfills, in addition to attracting pests such as mice, flies, rats that can spread infectious diseases, also pollute the soil and groundwater, as the waste often contains heavy metals and other dangerous substances.
A few months after the establishment of the Park, at the beginning of 2020, AUZP is faced with the problem of unclearly defined responsibilities of the Podgorica Communal Police and the Environmental Inspection when it comes to illegal waste disposal.
AUZP announced Center for Investigative Journalism of Montenegro (CIN-CG) that the Environmental Inspection considers that they are responsible only for hazardous waste, while the Podgorica Municipal Police is responsible for all other types of waste.
However, the Municipal Police claim that according to the Nature Protection Act, the Environmental Inspection is responsible for all types of waste in protected areas.
"When we talk about protected areas, the rangers are in charge of monitoring the terrain. If they find any problems, they report it to the Directorate for Inspection Affairs so that the procedure can be initiated," the Podgorica Communal Police told CIN-CG.
That police, however, did not answer the question of whether there are any legal deficiencies that limit their work and what those deficiencies are.
An even bigger problem is the fact that the Law on Waste Management does not recognize private land, so the Podgorica service "Čistoća" has no obligation to remove waste from private properties.
"We carry out waste removal only at the request of the owners of private plots", they said from "Čistoća" for CIN-CG.
Thanks to the data from the field provided by the rangers, the expert service of AUZP created a detailed database with locations and types of waste.
"Cistoća removed all the landfills that were on state-owned plots, which were pointed out by the rangers during their daily tours of the terrain, but they were often rebuilt," said the AUZP.
Numerous wild landfills located in the area of PP "Rijeka Zeta" have existed for a long time, they were probably there even before the declaration of this area as a protected area, but they continue to spread even after the declaration. People who dispose of waste improperly, mostly choose the time, so they do it mostly at night, confirmed from AUZP.
"The punishments are not adequate to the gravity of the crime committed. Thus, according to the information received from the Municipal Police, the penalty for improper disposal of a waste truck was only 20 euros," said the AUZP to CIN-CG.
The owner of a private plot in a protected area is obliged, according to the Decision on communal order, to take care of his property, and if he does not do this, the inspector or ranger, going to the site, notes the condition found in the minutes and indicates the solution to the subject of supervision to tidy up his yard.
"The fine for a natural person is from 20 to XNUMX euros," said the Municipal Police of Podgorica.
European Union (EU) countries have much stricter laws and practices. In Italy, the misdemeanor fine for someone caught illegally dumping waste was from 300 to 2023 euros, and as of October 10, it was even increased and now amounts to 20 to XNUMX euros. If it is hazardous waste, the fine can be up to XNUMX euros. The Italian Law on Cultural Heritage and Landscape states that not only the person who illegally dumped waste is guilty, but also the owner of the land where the waste is located.
"From 2020 until today, there have been no criminal cases filed for the criminal offense of polluting the environment with waste," the Basic Court in Podgorica announced for CIN-CG.
The Criminal Code of Montenegro (KZCG) prescribes penalties of three months to eight years in prison for those who, by collecting, transporting, processing, disposing or removing waste, cause danger to life, body or health of people or danger - significant damage - in relation to the quality of air, water or land or for animal or plant life. If the act was committed negligently, then the law prescribes penalties ranging from a fine to five years in prison, and in the event that the act led to serious bodily injury, severe health damage or death of one or more persons, the perpetrator may be sentenced to two to twelve years in prison.
AUZP told CIN-CG that three months ago a meeting of representatives of all relevant institutions, companies, local and state inspections responsible for this issue, as well as others who can contribute to the solution of this problem, was held in Podgorica and that on that occasion a conclusion was reached that the owners of the plots where there are wild dumps are invited to the premises of the Capital City for an interview.
"The Property Directorate of Podgorica has been given the task of identifying the owners and inviting them to a meeting in the capital, with the help of the AUZP's database of illegal landfills, because there is a possibility that some of them are not even aware of the condition of their plots", said the AUZP.
At that meeting, the owners will be informed that the landfills will be removed, but that, in case of waste disposal again, everyone would be responsible for the state of their property, that is, that proceedings would be initiated against them.
It often happens that someone sets fire to waste in these wild dumps. Then there is a risk to the health of the population in the vicinity. When fires are activated, harmful and toxic substances are spread - for example, the burning of plastic materials generates dioxins and similar compounds, thus polluting the air, water, land...
The land is being exploited near the largest landfill, say the rangers interviewed by CIN-CG.
"We caught them stealing land from there and then selling it".
The question is where that land goes and what it is used for, as well as what health consequences its use can cause.
One of the five main points of the Green Agenda for the Western Balkans, which Montenegro signed in 2020, is the reduction of air, water and land pollution. In mid-April 2024, the Law on Waste Management was adopted, but it does not deal in detail with landfills on private properties in protected areas.
A team of several non-governmental organizations recently proposed that, as part of the reorganization of the Directorate for Inspection Affairs, the digitalization of inspection services and applications be adopted. This could increase transparency, the fight against corruption in this area and the efficiency of services.
It is built first, so what happens, will be
A woman sits in front of her house and reads a newspaper. Next to it, along with a high concrete fence, excavators and backhoes are working, foundations are being built... On Velje brdo, in the PP protected zone, a whole new settlement is springing up. But that's just one of the construction sites.
For the purposes of this research, the CIN-CG journalist visited the Podgorica part of the "Rijeka Zeta" PP with AUZP rangers and had the opportunity to see that as many as seven illegal buildings have recently sprung up in the area of Velje brdo.
Foundations, concrete slabs and load-bearing walls can be seen on some buildings. In addition to the majority of unfinished buildings, the decision of the Environmental Inspection on the prohibition of construction was highlighted, and a smaller number also have the prohibition of the Construction Inspection.
But only some have stopped construction because of those bans, and some are not giving up. Some are building in the third protection zone of this nature park, and some are in the second, where by law only temporary facilities could be placed.
None of these buildings were demolished. Interestingly, at one facility that has been under construction for months, workers were digging freely in front of the CIN-CG team, even though the owner of that facility did not have the consent of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) at that time. CIN-CG learned that the approval from the EPA was obtained the day after our visit.
Such cases point to a disastrous practice that is frequent in Montenegro - first it is built without permits, then what happens. Permits are requested later, and thus many facilities are legalized.
The rangers explain that those who build in the protected area were initially somewhat "shunned" by the protection service of the Agency for the Management of Protected Areas in Podgorica.
"However, as time passes and they see that there are no serious sanctions, everyone started building, so whatever happens... The inspection comes out, they get a report, and then they continue to build."
Penalties for illegal construction that destroys the environment are mostly conditional
In the past period, the rangers submitted 11 requests for response to the Environmental Inspection and eight requests to the Building Inspection due to illegal construction in the "Rijeka Zeta" nature park.
The Urban and Construction Inspection within the Ministry of Spatial Planning, Urbanism and State Property (MDUP) is responsible for the supervision of illegally built buildings, in accordance with the Law on Spatial Planning and Construction of Buildings.
According to the Law on Environmental Protection, the Environmental Inspection is competent to carry out inspections in protected areas.
"As far as illegal construction is concerned, since 2020, 14 decisions have been made prohibiting further activities, and six requests to initiate misdemeanor proceedings and one criminal report have been submitted," the Environmental Inspection told CIN-CG.
They also explain that, in the legal sense, a paradox is occurring. Namely, the currently valid Law on Nature Protection does not prescribe misdemeanor liability for a natural person if he performs actions, activities and activities in a protected nature area without the permission of the Agency for Nature Protection, although this should exist.
"We believe that this ban and penalty should be applied through other documents, such as spatial planning documentation," the Environmental Inspection said.
Until the publication of this text, CIN-CG had not managed to get answers to the numerous questions that it sent to the Urban Planning and Construction Inspection.
The Basic Court in Podgorica informed CIN-CG that from 2020 until today, 35 verdicts were issued and 29 verdicts were passed for the criminal offense of building a building without registration and construction documentation. Those judgments refer to illegal construction in the entire territory of the Capital City. In all judgments that CIN-CG had access to, the sentences are conditional, only in one case, concerning a prolonged criminal offense, the court imposed a three-month house arrest sentence, even though this criminal offense is subject to a sentence of six months to five years in prison.
Out of 29 verdicts, only two concern plots located in the "Rijeka Zeta" nature park, in the area of Velje Brdo, and both sentences imposed in them are conditional.
CIN-CG was told by the Podgorica Basic Court that from 2020 until today, there have been no cases filed for the criminal offense of illegal construction, commissioning and operation of facilities and equipment that pollute the environment. There were no final judgments related to the said criminal offense. The punishment for this offense is from six months to 12 years in prison.
In Italy, they can alienate ownership of plots of land where illegal construction is being done
In the countries of the European Union, for example Italy, the legal representative of a protected natural area, such as in Montenegro, AUZP, can issue a decision for the immediate suspension of works and the return of the protected area to its previous state. The one who ordered the construction, as well as the companies that agreed to build illegally, have a legal obligation to bear all costs related to the rehabilitation of the destroyed area, otherwise the municipality has the right to alienate the ruined property.
Montenegro still has a long way to go, not only to harmonize practices with those in the EU, but to implement its own laws, which are often violated, the nature of protected areas and people's health are being destroyed, and almost no one is responsible for this.
Pronounced bird poaching
Poaching also contributes to the devastation of the "Rijeka Zeta" nature park. The target is mostly birds.
Hunting is allowed on Sundays, but even on other days you can find decoys consisting of a speaker, a sound carrier (eg mp3 player) and a battery, which is not allowed.
During the night you can hear sounds that imitate the song of quails, which are so loud that they can be heard for several kilometers. Quails are lured by that sound for food and rest. Thus, deceived by the sounds, the birds land and wait for dawn when the poachers come and kill them.
The Montenegrin Law on Game and Hunting clearly prohibits the use of decoys during hunting, because in this way game is massively destroyed.
"Considering the amount of fired cartridges that we found in the dugouts, it is impossible that so many birds were killed during the weekend in one place, if they were not lured first," the rangers explained to CIN-CG.
In Montenegro, 352 species of birds have been registered so far, which is as much as 65 percent of the biodiversity wealth of Europe, where there are about 533 species.
Numerous plant and animal species, as well as Natura 2000 habitats, which are protected by EU laws, are registered on the territory of the "Rijeka Zeta" nature park.
Rangers for CIN-CG say that fish poaching is currently less pronounced in the Podgorica part of the Park that they manage, although they encounter some hidden traps. Caught fish is not recommended for consumption, precisely because of pollution.
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