ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AND MAJOR ECOLOGICAL PROBLEMS IN THE NATIONAL PARK DURMITOR

8/16/2019 ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AND MAJOR ECOLOGICAL PROBLEMS IN THE NATIONAL PARK DURMITOR

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82 Researches Review DGTH | , –,

ABSTRACT: Durmitor National Park is the second largest national park in Montenegro.

Located in the northwestern part of the country, i.e. in the furthest southeastern part of

the Dinaric Alps, where they are the highest and the widest. Its most important parts are

the main mountain mass of Durmitor and the canyons of Tara, Sušica, Draga and Komar-

nica. National Park was established in and, owing to its primarily outstanding natu-

ral values, was added to the UNESCO List of the World Natural and Cultural Heritage in

. NP Durmitor is a very important tourist destination that goes beyond Montenegro

and the region. As such, it is heavily exposed to the negative direct and indirect anthro-

pogenic impact. The authors of this paper discuss the issues related to the environmental protection, that is valid for the relevant zones and protection regimes, as well as for the

types of permitted use and activities within the border of NP Durmitor. Then, they ana-

lyze the main ecological problems in the national park, in particular: illegal construction,

land degradation, illegal deforestation, drying forests, frequent fires, lack of adequate

communal infrastructure, exploitation of construction materials from moraine deposits

and others.

Key words: NP Durmitor, environmental protection, ecological problems, tourist desti-

nation

INTRODUCTION

Based on their extremely diverse nature, unique natural assets and values, as wellas beautiul landscapes, five national parks were declared in Montenegro: NP Durmi-tor (1952), NP Biogradska Gora (1952), NP Lake Skadar (1983), NP Lovćen (1952) andNP Prokletije (2009). Tese national parks make up about 10% o the surace area o thecountry. For more than hal a century, Montenegro has been showing serious efforts to

Review article UDC: 504.72(497.16)

Researches Reviews of the Department of Geography, Tourism and Hotel Management

/.

I Bulevar Jaše Tomića , Novi Sad; e-mail: [email protected] University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Sciences, Department of Geography, Tourism and Hospitality, Trg Dositeja

Obradovića , Novi Sad.

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

AND MAJOR ECOLOGICAL PROBLEMS

IN THE NATIONAL PARK DURMITOR

Mićo SrdanovićI , Dragoslav PavićII

Received: ... | Accepted: ...


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83Researches Review DGTH | , –,

develop and ollow ecological principles, which is evident in the act that five nationalparks were declared back in 1952, and the Parliament o this country adopted the Dec-laration on the Ecological Country o Montenegro on September 20 1991 on Žabljak.However, the real situation on the ground shows that the ecological principles in the

country are not respected so ofen, even in the protected areas. A very good example ornon-compliance is the situation in the Durmitor National Park, a protected area richin geodiversity and biodiversity o national and international importance. Namely, thisnational park, otherwise a major tourist destination, is under the threat o numerousecological problems, which cause a significant degradation o the environment in someparts o the protected area.

Furthermore, current protection zones within the NP Durmitor will be presentedand analyzed, including protection regimes and the permitted activities within eachzone. Tis will be ollowed by recognizing and presenting major environmental prob-lems in the national park in order to highlight the emergency o the situation related tonature conservation within this natural asset and the need to take concrete steps in re-solving these problems.

GEOGRAPHIC POSITION AND SIZE NP DURMITOR

Durmitor National Park is located in the northwestern part o Montenegro, in thearea which represents the highest and widest part o the Dinaric Alps (Map 1). It com-prises the main mountain massi o Durmitor, some areas around the Lakes and the

Piva Mountain, the canyons o ara (along 59 km, rom the mouth o Ravnjak to theborder with Bosnia and Herzegovina), Sušica and Draga, then the upper parts o thecanyon valleys o Bukovica, Grabovica and Komarnica, Lake Zabojsko with its vicini-ty (Map 2).

Te surace area o NP Durmitor according to the current Spatial Plan o SpecialLanduse comprises the area o 33,400 ha. Te largest surace areas are taken by the can-yon valleys o the river ara (15,804 ha) and the central part o Durmitor (8,710 ha). Tehighest point o the territory o the National Park is Bobotov Kuk (2,523 m above sealevel), an the lowest is in the riverbed o ara under the spring Nozdruć (506 m above

sea level). Durmitor National Park covers the surace area o the territories o five mu-nicipalities – Žabljak, Pljevlja, Plužine, Šavnik and Mojkovac (Lješević, Stijepović, 1996;Ristanović, Mrkša, 2007; www.nparkovi.me).

In different literature and other valid sources, there are different data concerning the surace area o NPDurmitor. Tus in the document o the PC ‘National Parks o Montenegro’ entitled ‘National Park Dur-mitor – Management Plan -’, which reers to the Spatial Plan o Special Landuse, the surace areais , ha. In the same document, the areas o the three protected zones are also given, whose total sumadds up to the total area o the national park o , ha. In another document o the aorementionedpublic company entitled ‘Durmitor Management Program or ’, the given area is , ha. Te offi-cial website o PC ‘National Parks o Montenegro’ gives an area o , ha . Te same surace area isgiven by B. Ristanović and M. Mrkša (). M. Lješević and M. Stijepović () and N. Ćurčić ()reported that the area o Durmitor covers , ha, etc.


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Map1. Geographic position of NP Durmitor within the territory of Montenegro (1:950,000)Source: www.nparkovi.me

Map 2. Border of NP Durmitor (1:320,000)

Source: Public Company ‘Montenegro National Parks’


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HISTORY, ZONES AND PROTECTION REGIMES

Te idea to establish Durmitor National Park was given by an engineer, AleksandarVasić, back in 1934. Te actual declaration o national park ollowed almost two decades

later, more precisely in August 6th 1952 afer the decision adopted by the Parliament othe NR Montenegro (Official Gazette o NR o Montenegro, No. 16-17/52). Upon estab-lishment, NP Durmitor had an area o 8,000 ha. In terms o nature protection, it couldbe said that NP Durmitor was preceded by the royal reserve that was the declared in1907, ollowing the suggestion o the King Nikola. Te reserve covered the area o BlackLake and its vicinity and the area o black pine, Crna Poda, in the canyon o ara (www.nparkovi.me).

Durmitor operated independently until January 1993. It used to be organized as theCommunity o Durmitor National Park comprising the ollowing bodies: the Assembly,the Executive Committee and the Scientific Council. As o January 1993, the nationalpark stopped operating independently and became a part o the Public Company ‘Na-tional Parks o Montenegro’ (Official Gazette o Montenegro, No. 39/1992).

At the session o the International Committee or the World Natural and CulturalHeritage, which took place in the period September 1-6th 1980 in Paris, Durmitor wasincluded in the World Natural and Cultural Heritage List under the auspices o the UN,afer being nominated by the Federal Executive Council o SFR Yugoslavia and ulfillingthe three conditions - geological, hydrological, and biological phenomena. In this way,Durmitor National Park enjoyed double protection - as a national park within the na-tional context and as a world natural heritage within UNESCO. Also, it is worth men-

tioning that several years earlier, i.e. on January 17th 1977, by the decision o UNESCO,the ara River Basin, which is largely an integral part o NP Durmitor, was listed in theecological reserve o our planet within the program ‘Man and Biosphere’ (MaB). (www.durmitor.wordpress.com).

According to the current Spatial Plan or Special Land Use, which should also be keptin the uture plans, as it was proposed by relevant institutions, Durmitor National Parkis divided into three protection zones and a saety zone.

Zone I under a strict protection regime covering 3,400 ha (10% o the national parkarea) includes special nature reserves: the rain orest o fir and spruce in the catchment

basin o Mlinski stream; Black Pine orest o ‘Crna Poda’; Lake Barno and its vicinity;Lake Zabojsko and its vicinity; the catchment basin o Škrčka lakes with the canyon val-ley o the river Sušica and Lake Sušica to the canyon o ara and the speleological re-serve Surutka – Vjetrena Brda. So, this zone includes areas with exceptional and uni-

versal significance.In Protection Zone I, only strictly controlled scientific research, controlled educa-

tional activities and very strictly controlled public presentations are allowed with a spe-cial permission rom the national park, excluding any activities that might disturb thenatural environment and immovable cultural assets in any way. Tus, its main purpose

is scientific research and educational activities, and the main conservation objectivesare preserving natural resources in their original orm, maintaining the existing eco-logical processes in an undisturbed condition and preserving genetic resources. In cer-


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tain specific circumstances, a exceptional permission can be issued in this zone or thepurpose o damage control and the control o diseases o flora and auna. Forest use isstrictly prohibited as well as an unorganized tourist access or perorming any activitiesthat would result in the spatial changes (Durmitor National Park - Management Plan

2011-2015. Public Company ‘National Parks o Montenegro’).Zone II with a special protection regime covers an area o about 25,400 ha (75%o the national park). It consists o the orests around Black Lake with a orest in theclose vicinity and the canyon o the river ara without settlements: epca, Lever andĐurđevića ara, Upper and Lower Dobrilovina; then orests in the area o Dragišnicawith Boljske Grede. Apart rom these reserves and areas, this zone also includes the ar-eas o natural monuments as well as the proper massi o Durmitor with its spaciousgrassland, where one can find a large number o rare and endemic flora; then pine ‘kri-

vulja’ orests; the woodland o Mala Crna Gora along the border between the canyon oara and Durmitor; then numerous glacial cirques and valleys, mountain peaks exceed-ing 2,000 m, as well as numerous geomorphological orms. Within this zone, there is alarge number o habitats with rare and endemic species. In its smaller part, Zone II in-tersects the valley o Sušica (the route to Nedajno).

In the area o special protection regime, limited and strictly controlled use o certainnatural resources is allowed, the activities that can improve conditions or the presenta-tion without any consequences. Namely, in addition to scientific research and educationalactivities in the zone, organized visits o holidaymakers, hikers and recreationists are al-lowed. Rafing and kayaking, fishing and hiking with sightseeing and photographing nat-ural phenomena are also allowed in the canyon o ara. Tere are also sanitation measures,

treatment o diseased trees, allen trees removal, clearing orest roads (Durmitor Nation-al Park - Management Plan 2011-2015, Public Company ‘National Parks o Montenegro’).

Zone III with the liberal form of protection covers 5,200 ha (15% o the nation-al park) comprising the entire agricultural land around village communities o MalaCrna Gora, Pitomine, Bosača, epca, Lever ara, Đurđevića ara, Upper and Lower Do-brilovina in the ara Canyon. Tis zone also includes parts o agricultural land aroundthe village communities o Rasovo, Bogomolja, Šljivansko, Brajkovača, Premćani andRudinci, Razvršje, Motički Gaj, Virak, Javorje, Pašina Voda and Pošćenski Kraj.

In the area o Protection Zone III, natural values are mainly preserved, but there are

also considerable anthropogenic activities present in the villages, transport and techni-cal inrastructure, agriculture, orestry, tourism and recreation.

Tis zone allows selective and limited use o resources with controlled activities(tourism and business in order to meet the needs o visitors and local residents) that arecompatible with sustainable use o the area. Tis zone also has a protective unction, ina weaker orm, incorporating a key objective o protection zones I and II that is protec-tion against direct negative anthropogenic influence.

Zone o liberal protection is a very attractive tourist area, the act that is evidentin very avorable spots or winter sports and recreation within its border (Savin Kuk,

Šljeme, Mali and Veliki Štuoc), as well as in numerous shepherd’s shelters called ‘katun’,etc. (Durmitor National Park - Management Plan 2011-2015, Public Company ‘Nation-al Parks o Montenegro’).


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Protective (contact) zone includes the urban area o Žabljak, the area o lakes withRiblje and Vražje Lake, Zminičko and Pošćensko Lake, the lower part o Komarnica,catchment area o Bistrica, Jelov Panj, Kosanica. Although outside the border o the na-tional park, it orms a natural entity with the park and requires a specific regime o pro-

tection (Durmitor National Park - Management Plan 2011-2015, Public Company ‘Na-tional Parks o Montenegro’).

MAJOR ECOLOGICAL PROBLEMS OF NP DURMITOR

Numerous ecological problems were detected within the limits o Durmitor and its vicinity, which significantly disturb the natural balance and contribute to an overalldegradation o protected areas. According to the data obtained rom the Durmitor Na-tional Park and in the field, we can distinguish the ollowing environmental issues: il-legal construction, land degradation, illegal deorestation, orests drying out, requentfires, lack o adequate community inrastructure, exploitation o construction materialsrom moraine deposits, etc.

Illegal construction represents one o the biggest problems in the municipality oŽabljak whose territory includes the most endangered area NP Durmitor. Illegal con-struction in the municipality o Žabljak reached a peak in the period 1997-2006, whenthere were more than 1,000 weekend and regular houses illegally built in the municipal-ity. Out o that number, more than 350 illegal buildings were built on the the territoryo the national park (over 240 in Motički Gaj), according to the records o NP Durmi-

tor. Tis almost completely undermined the concept o environmental protection in theconstruction area (deorestation, permanent degradation o more than 2,000 ha o land,destruction o habitats or plant and animal species, etc.) Tis situation will probably re-sult in the exclusion o our villages rom the protected area o NP Durmitor (MotičkiGaj, Razvršje, Poljana and Virak) and its spatial expansion towards Dragišnica, partso Komarnica and the canyon Nevidio.

Te construction o inormal structures, which affected the entire oothills o Durmi-tor, ignored the act that the development o Žabljak must comply with the requirementso NP Durmitor, its limitations and conditions related to the environmental protection

and the concept o sustainable development. Illegal construction led to the ambient distur-bance o the wider suburban areas without ollowing the basic rules o urban developmentand styles o traditional construction. It also resulted in the significant landscape degra-dation and the destruction o natural resources, and led to the problems o installing nec-essary inrastructure in an area with very scarce inrastructure options.

Illegal deforestation is one o the big problems o NP Durmitor. According to datacollected in the field, cutting took on a large scale in some periods, to such an extent that

Te woodland o Dragišnica is situated at m above the village Komarnica and stretches rom DobriDo on Durmitor to the source o the river Komarnica.

Inormal structures according to the Law on Legalization o Inormal Structures (established in July) is a structure or a part o a structure built without a construction permit, i.e. contrary to construc-tion permit.


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the orest rom the national park was illegally distributed as firewood to numerous mu-nicipalities in Montenegro. Also, such incidental situations and activities occurred therethat had an impact on the destruction o parts o the woodland and on total devastationo the national park. Certainly, the aorementioned illegal construction was one o these

negative activities. A high extent o human negligence is also evident in the act that thecompany responsible or the aorementioned road, built it across the protected area, in-stead o relocating 11 km o the road outside the national park, without destroying a sig-nificant part o the orest Dragišnica.

Dry forests, as a long-term degradation process, have been substantially present with-in the limits o NP Durmitor. Te causes o dry orests are numerous and it is difficult todetermine precisely the primary and dominant actor o extinction. What can be stat-ed with certainty is that the drying process can be influenced by a combination o abiot-ic and biotic actors which act connectively or successively. According to D. Obradović(2001), one o the main causes o drying orests in the Durmitor National Park is a cli-mate change, particularly changes in pluviometric regime, which resulted in increasedhumidity that provided avorable conditions or pathogenic ungi to spread, which is thesecond very important actor o drying orests. According to the same author, spruce isextremely vulnerable to wood-decay ungi in nature reserves Mlinski Potok and BlackLake with their surroundings. In the reserve Mlinski Potok, fir has reached its physio-logical maturity o extinction and is exceedingly deteriorating like spruce. In the Re-serve Crna Poda, black pine, located on beech habitat, is also dying because o its phys-iological maturity o extinction, and age (over 400 years old). So, the main cause o dryorest growth here is growing in another habitat, namely the primary habitat o beech

that is threatening to regain its ormer area. Te syndrome o drying o spruce and firindicates the influence o air pollution. But, since the presence and concentration o pol-lutants have not been established precisely, it cannot be stated with certainty to whichextent air pollutants are harmul to orests in NP Durmitor (Obradović, 2001).

Fires represent a requent hazard in the Durmitor National Park, especially or or-est complexes. Tey are most common in the canyons o the rivers ara and Draga. Ac-cording to the National Park data, the largest fires occurred in Prag near Vaškovo in2006 and in the reserve Crna Poda (belonging to Protection Zone I) in 2012. More pre-cisely, fires spread in the canyon o ara across 4,000 hectares o orests and other are-

as in 2012. Up till now, the minimum measures were taken to repair fire damaged areas,such as reorestation o some parts o the affected areas.

Te lack o adequate municipal inrastructure in municipalities covering the territo-ry o the Durmitor National Park is also one o the most important ecological problemsthat significantly threatens natural values and resources in the protected area. Amongthe major shortcomings o communal inrastructure are the lack o sanitary landfills,the lack o or inadequacy o waste water treatment, then water supply systems, sewerage,heating systems, electric power supply, etc. Te Law on Waste Management (Official Ga-zette o Montenegro, No. 80/2005) entails that municipalities Šavnik and Plužine share

a regional landfill with the municipality o Nikšić. Te landfill should be in the munic-ipality o Nikšić (Budoš location), which is a positive thing or NP Durmitor whose ter-ritory is not in this municipality. As ar as Pljevlja and Žabljak are concerned, the con-


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struction o a regional landfill was planned in the municipality o Pljevlja in Jelin Potok,but this municipality gave up on the mentioned location. Many villages do not havecontainers or possibilities to transport garbage, so garbage dumps can ofen be ound inthe village vicinity, in the orest or along the road. On the territory o the national park,

there are a ew smaller landfills and garbage dumps covering larger areas as well as inzones (picnic areas) and along the requent tourist routes.Exploitation of building materials is extremely disturbing the landscape and ambi-

ance o several locations within the protection zone o NP Durmitor, the zone which is very important or nature protection in the national park and it comprises a unique areawith the national park. Te largest long-term gravel mine which is still active is situat-ed in Njegovuđa, near the road junction to Žabljak and Đurđevića ara. Exploitation isalso done in the vicinity o the Pošćenski Kraj - rsa in the part towards Stožina.

Among other environmental problems in NP Durmitor, it is important to mentionpoaching in the contact zones with the national park, then endangering endemic aquat-ic auna in the lakes due to inadequate fish stocking, air pollution caused by exhaustumes, noise caused by human activity, etc.

CONCLUSION

Based on the above analysis, it can be concluded that the ecological situation in NPDurmitor is really negative in certain areas. Tis observation is based on the act thatthis natural heritage site o national and international importance has numerous eco-

logical problems that led to a major damage. Teir negative impact has caused completeor partial degradation in some o the park’s areas. Also, such an assessment o the envi-ronmental situation is a result o the act that no concrete systemic and comprehensivesteps and measures are taken in order to solve ecological problems.

Among the main causes o such ecological situation in the NP Durmitor are neglectingthe existing legislations which reers to the zones and regimes o protection and permit-ted activities within the protected natural heritage site, as well as low level o environmen-tal responsibility by some members o the local population and tourists. However, at thebottom o this generally poor ecological situation in the NP Durmitor, there is a tendency

o some institutions and individuals to turn the area o the national park and its vicinityinto a destination o mass tourism (illegal construction, lack o communal inrastructure,waste treatment, etc.) Te authorities should be able to understand that this is not possiblein the protected area such as NP Durmitor where tourism, i.e. tourist movements must beadjusted to the legally permitted activities in certain zones o protection. Tereore, tour-ism should be developed in accordance with the principles o sustainable development soas not to disturb the natural balance within the protected heritage site. In this regard, C.Young and B. Young (1993) state that i a general plan o activities or protection, develop-ment and use o national parks does not exist or cannot be complied with, but instead the

activities occur accidentally in response to political pressure, the result is likely to be irre- versible damage done to the resources and values o the national park.


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Remark

Te paper represents results of research conducted as part of a doctoral dissertationentitled ‘Natural Values as a Basis for the Development of ourist Offer in Northwestern

Montenegro’ by the candidate Mićo Srdanović, MSc.

REFERENCES

Љешевић, М., Стијеповић, М. (1996): Природа Националног парка Дурмитор. Гео-графски факултет Универзитета у Београду, ЦАНУ, НП Дурмитор, Посебна из-дања бр 8: 1-6.

Обрадовић, Д. (2001): Упоредна анализа сушења шума у националним паркови-ма Ловћен и Дурмитор. Зборник радова - Географски факултет Универзитета уБеограду XLIX: 51-65.

Ристановић, Б., Мркша, М. (2007): Туризам и заштита у националном парку Дурмитор.Зборник радова Департмана за географију, туризам и хотелијерство, св 36: 76-84.

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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AND MAJOR ECOLOGICAL PROBLEMS IN THE NATIONAL PARK DURMITOR

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