December 11. 2018 - The Government of Montenegro urged the Ulcinj Municipality to adopt the Solana Protection Study as soon as possible to declare it to be a nature park.
More than two months ago, the Ministry of Sustainable Development and Tourism sent to the Municipality of Ulcinj, the Secretariat for Communal Services and Environmental Protection, a Nature Conservation Study Plan for Solana. This body should open a public hearing so that the Municipal Assembly may decide to proclaim the Nature Park.
"We have a situation where the Ulcinj Municipality does not react on this issue. The study is in the desk, and maybe it is waiting for some political agreement," said URA chairman of Ulcinj Omer Bajraktari.
He assessed that this was done deliberately, as the situation on Solana is worsening every day. "This is done to bring it to some point where both citizens and political parties would say that the reservation is no longer safe and valuable," Bajraktari added.
URA seeks out the Ulcinj Municipality to immediately open a public hearing on the Ulcinj Solana Protection Study to begin the process of proclaiming it to the Nature Park. "When we know that the Study was completed in November last year, it is easy to conclude that the Government and its office in Ulcinj are not in a hurry. They are trying to get a little more time to make this whole space so devastated that they would not have anything to protect. To become obstinate, degraded and dissolved as water in water. Therefore, for five years there is no production of salt, without which Solana has no unique ecosystem, birds are less and less," said Arijana Kurmemović (URA) in a statement on this occasion.
She pointed out that the Study draft did not emphasize the international importance of the Ulcinj salt fields, although it is essential not only in the regional and European natural context but also in the world.
"The government is consistently refusing to comply with the requirement to put Solana on the RAMSAR List of Protected Wetlands, even though it has promised it in early 2016 to protect it on an international level," said the URA chairman.
This unique natural area is the most suitable winter resort, seaside resort and bird nesting on the eastern coast of the Adriatic. It is a crucial habitat on the Adriatic migratory corridor through which millions of birds cross over during the fall and spring seasons. In decades, Solana has had an essential and significant influence on Ulcinj's economy.
According to the IUCN - Red List of Endangered Species of 2015, Ulcinj Solana is the habitat of many highly endangered, endangered and susceptible species of amphibians and birds. It is also significant due to the community of halophytic plants that live in Montenegro only on the land around Solila Tivat and in the Tivat’s field. This kind of ecosystem is rare to the entire rocky coast of the eastern Adriatic.
Along with about 250 species of birds, plenty of food and a variety of salt water in the pools attracts numerous animal species. Ulcinj's Solana has a prominent role at the international level as an essential biodiversity habitat, especially in qualitative aspects.
It is a crucial habitat at the time of nesting, swimming or wintering for the entire Bojana delta and Skadar lake basin. Almost 3% of the world's northwestern populations of globally endangered pelicans are implementing the post-war period at Ulcinj Solana, where human influence is small, and the size and wealth of food are vast.
During the autumn and winter 2003, Solana Ulcinj had an average of almost 20,000 water birds. The most significant period in Ulcinj's Solana is spring: more than 40,000 passers-by are kept short, especially ducks and stingers.
Compared to the Ramsar criterion of 1% of the presence of water bird species, for Ulcinj Solana, it can be concluded that at least 15 species of birds meet this criterion. Solana Ulcinj has the status of IBA – Important Bird Area for the Ulcinj Saltpans and is a part of the proposed area of the Biosphere Reserve Skadar Lake and Delta Bojana Buna.
The legal treatment of Solana is also an important issue in the context of negotiation Chapter 27 Montenegro just opened in the process of European integration.
Source: mne.ulcinj-info.com
