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Ohrid Natural Park on the way to UNESCO's "black list"

Politiko 2025-07-07 10:25:58

Ohrid Natural Park on the way to UNESCO's "black list"

Next week is expected to bring an important decision from UNESCO, which will formalize the placement of the Ohrid Natural Park on the List of World Heritage in Danger.

This development comes as a result of a series of inappropriate interventions in the lake area and serious shortcomings in the management and protection of the region's natural and cultural wealth, as the Forum for the Protection of Cultural Heritage writes on Facebook.

In the latest report of the 2024 mission, UNESCO confirms previous findings, raising the alarm about the cumulative and ongoing impacts that have worsened the condition of the area. The report warns that unless immediate and decisive action is taken, the park's degradation could become irreversible.

"The 2024 mission confirms the findings of previous missions, concluding that cumulative and persistent impacts - including urban development, deficiencies in spatial planning, inappropriate interventions, eutrophication of the lake, large-scale infrastructure and other projects - have caused serious deterioration of the park's key attributes, resulting in irreversible degradation if decisive measures are not taken, and considers that the conditions for inscription of the property on the List of World Heritage in Danger are met, in accordance with paragraphs 179-180 of the Operational Guidelines," the UNESCO mission report states.

Ironically, this situation comes as Albanian authorities have promoted the Management Plan prepared by the AADF (Albanian-American Development Foundation) in collaboration with the Ministry of Tourism and Environment as an institutional success. In practice, this plan and the decisions that accompany it have resulted in the legalization of interventions that contribute to the degradation of the area, rather than protecting it.

Natural areas like Ohrid Park require not only tourist promotion, but real, transparent protection in line with international standards. This new status from UNESCO, although worrying, can serve as an alarm signal to radically review management policies and stop the destruction of one of Albania's most precious natural and cultural assets.

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