The 42nd session of the Standing Committee of the Berne Convention was held this year from November 28. until 02.12.2022. at the headquarters of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, France.

The board discussed the case of Porto Scadar Lake, which was opened in 2016 following a complaint by the NGO Green Home and a group of citizens of Virpazar due to the planned construction of two tourist complexes, namely Porto Scadar Lake and White Village in the Skadar Lake National Park.

The representative of the Ministry of Ecology, Spatial Planning and Urbanism, as well as the executive director of the NGO Green Home, reported on what was done in relation to the recommendations given to the state of Montenegro by the joint mission of the Berne and Ramsar Conventions in front of the appeal party. As a reminder, the recommendations given by the joint mission of the Berne and Ramsar Conventions related to: complete suspension of the project, development of a spatial plan, zoning, development of habitat maps, ban on the use of fast waterborne transport on the lake and a number of other recommendations.

The executive director of the NGO Green Home, Azra Vuković, in her capacity as a representative of the complaining party, pointed out the numerous threats that are present in this national park, as well as the fact that no national park has had a valid management plan for two years. Additionally, illegal construction in the park, poaching, the presence of invasive species, poor waste management, fires and many other threats directly threaten the biodiversity of this habitat.

The board was asked to keep the case open, and the demands were repeated:

• that the Local Study of the Mihailovići Location be invalidated, given that it was valid until 2020, and that the permits for the Porto Skadar lake and White Village projects be revoked accordingly. This would ensure the implementation of the recommendations given to the state and send a strong message that sustainable development and nature protection have priority over individual profits.
• To urgently develop and adopt a Spatial Plan for the national park that will comply with the zoning proposed by the recommendations, and that zone I and II be treated as natural areas that should be preserved from any construction. The construction of tourist facilities must be sustainable and must be developed in areas that have already been built.
• That the protection of the national park area is a priority.

Delegates of the Berne Convention expressed their concern about the situation in this protected area, not only in terms of the planned construction of the Porto Scadar Lake and White Village project, but also in terms of numerous other problems and threats that are present. Support was expressed for the revision of the protection study for this national park, which the Ministry is working on, but also the repeated need to suspend the project, which has not been done so far.

For these reasons, the case remains open, which in practice means that the Secretariat of the Berne Convention will continue to monitor and demand the full implementation of the recommendations they gave to the state and in their conclusions repeated the requests of the appellant (Green Home).