Conserving the Biological Diversity of the South-western Balkans:
Trans-boundary Nature Conservation in the Landscape
of the Durmitor Massif – TaraRiver – ProkletijeMountains
TECHNICAL PROJECT REPORT
TO THE MAINOFF UND BUDAIR FOUNDATION
1st June to 31st December 2005
1. The first steps – June/July 2005
The project began in June 2005, with the preliminary mission of FARR staff members:
Mario Pagaroti (Programme Development), Pietro Gareto (Forests), and Francis Antoretti (Freshwater) to Montenegro. /
The programme of the mission – which took place 13 - 21 June –included:
- A tour of approximately one week through the northern Montenegro landscape, meeting with local stakeholders (NGOs, donors and aid agencies, local administration, tour operators) and visits to the areas of Durmitor/Tara/Zabliak, Biogradaska Gora/Kolasin, and Prokletije/Plav.
- A few days in the capital city of Podgorica, for meetings with key stakeholders based in the capital including: UNDP-Montenegro, the Montenegro Institute for the Protection of Nature (Ministry of Culture), the University of Podgorica, the local NGO Green Home (GH).
This mission laid the basis for the project to begin in the field. FARR staff acquired important information, gathered materials, and established agreements of collaboration with several partners. An important decision was to entrust the implementation of the project in the field to GH, one of Montenegro’s most active and well-reputed environmental organisations. FARR started collaborating with GH in 2004, through the capacity building programme Across the Waters. As often happens in our work, the relationship with GH started with two small grants, for projects focusing on the Tara River and Skadar lake. The excellent performance of GH in both projects demonstrated that this organisation would be an appropriate partner for the implementation of this more challenging project. An agreement between FARR and GH was reached during the June meeting, through which GH would assist FARR in the implementation of the project and delivery of its outputs, in the period from September 2005 to December 2006. A common work plan was designed, and it was agreed that Ms Natasha Durakovic, a member of the GH team, would work full time on the project “Conserving the Biological Diversity of the South-western Balkans: Trans-boundary Nature Conservation in the Landscape of the Durmitor Massif – Tara River – Prokletije Mountains”, as from 1 September 2005.
During the initial phase of June-July 2005, there were two important new developments relevant to the project:
1.The freezing of the Buk Bjiela Dam
2.The official birth of DAI, the Dinaric Arc Initiative / / The Tara river, which flows through the heart of northern Montenegro, is one of Europe’s wildest and most unspoilt rivers. The Tara crosses the project area forming a spectacular canyon more than 80km long, which is the deepest in the world after that of Colorado.
The Tara is threatened by the Buk Bijela Scheme, which plans the construction of two hydro-electric power plants of 450 and 55.5 MW capacity along the Drina river, by the border between Bosnia and Montenegro. The construction of the hydropower plant was initiated in the 1970s, but it was brought to a standstill, due to widespread national and international public protest, and the negative opinion of over 500 experts from all over the world. The original project anticipated that the 450 MW power plant would generate 1 billion and 100 million kWh power annually, while the artificial lake would accumulate 410 million m3 water. The plant would be used by the states of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro, which have lately resumed plans to go ahead with the scheme. / / The river Tara flowing through the gorge which would be affected by the Buk Bijela Dam