Kotor and the National Park "Durmitor" are not on the red lists, nor are they threatened with deletion from the World Heritage List of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
This is what the Ministry of Culture and Media said yesterday, after the director of the Environmental Protection Agency, Milan Gazdić, referring to unofficial information, announced that Kotor will be erased, and that NP "Durmitor" will be put on the red list of endangered areas. . He said this at the conference "Protection of nature and environment, state, importance and perspectives".
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Gazdić apologized in a statement last night for his "reckless" and "inaccurate statement".
Responding to Gazdić's statements from the conference, Kotor Municipality President Vladimir Jokić said yesterday that "Kotor will not lose its status, nor is it threatened." Jokić also said that the "noise in communication" is the reason why there is a belief that the state is not doing everything necessary to preserve Kotor's status on the UNESCO list.
"The insufficient exchange of information and the insufficient quality of communication between the authorities in Montenegro and the World Heritage Committee created the belief that the state is not taking all the necessary measures in order to preserve Kotor's status on the UNESCO list," said Jokić.
From the department of culture and media, which is headed by Maša Vlaović, they claim that the cooperation with UNESCO "takes place in accordance with the procedure and quality dynamics, intensive exchange in all segments of the organization's competence".
The fact that Kotor will lose its status as a natural and cultural-historical area on the UNESCO World Heritage List, and that the NP "Durmitor" will end up on the endangered list, has been discussed unofficially and on social networks these days. Publicly, and again referring to unofficial sources, the director of the EPA spoke about it.
Speaking about the status of NP "Durmitor", he said that Montenegro must not allow UNESCO to renounce it, and that the current situation is alarming.
"Instead of UNESCO adding areas of our country to its list, we are in a very difficult position, we need to fight and save the titles we have," said Gazdić.
The area of Kotor was inscribed on the World Heritage List among the first 60 sites in 1979, after an earthquake that caused serious damage to the area. After that, until 2003, it was on the endangered list. According to data from the UNESCO website, in 2012 and 2015 minor changes to the boundaries of that protected area were registered.
NP "Durmitor" was entered on the UNESCO list in 1980. Significant, and then smaller, changes to the borders were registered in 2005.
The World Heritage List was established in 1978, based on the Convention on the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage adopted by UNESCO in 1972. It currently includes 1.188 sites from around the world.
Of these, 56 areas in the world have the status of endangered. In the region, the only objects on the endangered list are the buildings of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Kosovo - the Peć Patriarchate, Visoki Dečani and Gračanica monasteries, and the Church of the Virgin of Ljeviška in Prizren.
The Kosovo authorities requested to be removed from the endangered list, with the argument that "security circumstances in Kosovo have completely changed since 2006, when these monuments were assessed as endangered."
UNESCO did not respond to that request.
World heritage status, according to information from the UNESCO website, was lost to three areas - the Arabian Oryx Sanctuary in Oman, the Elbe River Valley in Dresden and the English port city of Liverpool.
The Arabian sanctuary of oryx, the African antelope, in Oman, was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1994 and removed from the list in 2007. The former reserve covered almost 30.000 square kilometers, but due to the discovery of oil nearby, until 2007 its area reduced by as much as 90 percent. Meanwhile, the oryx population has dropped from 450 to 65 individuals.
All of these were the reasons for UNESCO to remove the Arabian oryx reserve from the world heritage list.
The Elbe River Valley in Dresden, Germany, was removed from the list in 2009, just five years after the area was declared a World Heritage Site. The Elbe Valley, before being removed from the list, represented a unique combination of nature and the city in the background. The reason for the removal from the list is the beginning of the construction of a new bridge in the city itself.
Before it was finally deleted from the list of world heritage, the Elbe Valley was on the list of endangered areas for three years, from 2006 to 2009.
The English port city of Liverpool was added to the UNESCO list in 2004. After the construction of modern infrastructure began, from 2012 to 2021, Liverpool was moved to the list of endangered heritage, and then, when the construction of the new stadium for the football club "Everton" began, in 2021, Liverpool was removed from the list.
UNESCO's reasoning was that the city lost its authenticity and value.
Gazdić: The fact is that we all agree that Kotor and Durmitor are endangered
"The UNESCO summit in Riyadh will be very difficult for Montenegro. I hope that this 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, in my opinion, is a defeat for the state of Montenegro... This is literally stated at the press conference held on the occasion of 15 years of work of the Environmental Protection Agency", announced Gazdić last night, emphasizing that "he got the information from two sources".
"...Someone who claims that Durmitor will be on the red list due to poor management, and that the question is whether, due to urbanization, the Bay of Kotorskorisan will remain on the list. Another source confirmed to me that Montenegro will be given the last chance to improve the planning and management of its UNESCO heritage", specified the director of the Agency.
He pointed out that he was sorry that his statement to the press had such a connotation.
"Let's not fool ourselves too much, I'm also sorry, regardless of any UNESCO decision, that, in fact, there is a national consensus that both UNESCO sites are significantly endangered, which is visible to the naked eye, and it is also read in UNESCO reports," he said. Boss.
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