June 17, 2018 - Montenegro is a responsible member of the Bern Convention, which has the main goal of conservation of European wildlife and natural habitats, and Ramsar Convention, which points out the importance of international wetlands, especially waterfowl habitats. Led by the Montenegrin Ministry of Sustainable Development and Tourism, as a national contact institution, Montenegro welcomed the visit of experts which are representing these two international agreements. The officials stayed in Montenegro from June 12 to 14.
The mission mainly consisted of providing necessary support and dealing with the areas of special interest for preservation. The team was made of Goran Gugic, independent expert, Tobias Salathe, representative of Ramsar Convention and Gianluca Silvestrini, representative of Bern Convention.
During their mission in Montenegro, Minister of Sustainable Development and Tourism of Montenegro, Pavle Radulovic took a chance to have a discussion with the team on the topic of preservation of nature.
Minister Radulovic expressed his satisfaction that the Ministry of Sustainable Development and Tourism got the opportunity to host the representatives on their expert mission and he further discussed with the officials the issues of protection, preservation and sustainable development of Skadar lake. During the meeting, the members of the expert team announced that the main goal of the visit was to provide support to the competent state authorities in considering guidelines and recommendations, as well as providing assistance in identifying and implementing the most adequate conservation measures for the area of Skadar Lake and its flora and fauna. All the necessary help and support would be in accordance with international criteria of the Bern and Ramsar Conventions.
Also, on their visit to Montenegro, officials standing behind Bern and Ramsar Conventions visited the Skadar Lake and discussed further possible solutions for dealing with the areas of the special interest for preservation, or specifically the potential Emerald and Natura 2000 areas. They noted that in these sectors they are willing to provide technical assistance and all the necessary support to Montenegro. These two projects serve as a network of protected areas, established by the European Union Directive on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and of Wild Fauna and Flora. The difference, however, is that Emerald projects are for Non-European Union countries.
