A fishing boat glides across the shimmering surface of Europe’s oldest lake, a haven of biodiversity and a UNESCO World Heritage Site — one that conservationists say faces multiple development threats.
Lake Ohrid, which straddles the mountainous border of Macedonia and Albania, has been in existence for up to 3 million years and is home to more than 200 species of flora and fauna found nowhere else in the world.
However, huge infrastructure plans on the Macedonian side have alarmed environmentalists and UNESCO, which has called on the country’s authorities for an urgent assessment of the potential cumulative damage.
Photo: EPA
The proposals include a large ski complex and an expressway through the lakeside Galicica National Park, itself a protected area home to thousands of plant and animal species.
Local activists are also incensed by proposed “touristic development zones” and other urbanization plans on Ohrid’s shores, including a marina and apartment buildings.
They fear the destruction of a 50-hectare wetland serving as a crucial natural filter to the lake, pointing to a draft impact assessment, commissioned by the local government, that warns of unavoidable damage.
Officials insist they will protect Ohrid’s heritage, but campaigners accuse them of manipulation and violating laws to allow such developments to go ahead.
The “tsunami” of planned infrastructure projects, if implemented, “means that you can just say goodbye to the UNESCO World Heritage Site,” said Aleksandra Bujaroska, an environmental lawyer in the Balkan country.
Bujaroska is part of the citizens’ association Front 21/42, which is campaigning for a moratorium on all of the “destructive” plans.
“The big issue with all of these procedures... is the constant breach of public participation,” said the 30-year-old lawyer, who grew up in Ohrid and is based in Skopje.
UNESCO has assigned World Heritage status to more than 1,000 sites in the world, but fewer than three dozen are listed as both “natural” and “cultural” sites. The Ohrid region is one of them.
On the lake’s Macedonian shores, the city of Ohrid is one of Europe’s oldest human settlements with a wealth of Byzantine-style icons, frescoes and churches, which together with the lake’s natural beauty drew more than 200,000 tourists last year.
“It’s amazing. The beautiful thing is it’s so close to nature,” visiting Polish student Aleksandra Walerych said by the 13th-century Church of St John at Kaneo, which overlooks the lake and is thought to be the most photographed spot in the country.
The lake covers an area of 358km2, two-thirds of which lie in Macedonia and are covered by the World Heritage status, and work is under way to try to extend this to the third lying in Albanian territory.
However, at its annual meeting in Istanbul in July last year, the UNESCO World Heritage Committee said it “notes with concern that a number of large-scale infrastructure projects have been proposed” on the Macedonian side.
It warned that Ohrid could find itself on the “List of World Heritage in Danger” if threats to the site were confirmed, suggesting alternative routes and locations should be identified for major projects.
Sites can lose their heritage status if they are deemed to be improperly protected.
Alexandra Fiebig, project officer for Europe and North America at UNESCO’s World Heritage Center, said there had been “a lot of close contact with the [Macedonian] authorities” and a UNESCO “reactive monitoring mission” was due to start work in Ohrid soon.
Of the raft of controversial proposals, expected to involve both private and public investment, some fall under the remit of central government ministries while others are part of municipal plans.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, a potential investor in the expressway, says it is “assessing the feasibility” of the project.
Macedonia’s conservative VMRO-DPMNE party, in power nationally since 2006, has been accused by critics of authoritarianism and corruption, but narrowly won a general election last month.
Ohrid Mayor Nikola Bakraceski, from VMRO-DPMNE, insists environmental regulations have been followed and the public sufficiently consulted in city planning.
Bakraceski accuses activists of having “political agendas” and lacking expertise.
He said that one of his priorities is finding resources for a 54 million euro (US$57.6 million) upgrade of the Ohrid area’s antiquated and damaged waste collection system, in order to protect the lake.
On a national level, the government has prepared an “action plan” to implement the requests of the Istanbul meeting, said Lidija Topuzovska, the top Macedonian official for UNESCO matters, without giving specific details.
“The general intentions are that all standards for preserving the cultural and natural values of the Ohrid region are respected,” she said.
However, campaigners are not reassured.
Another citizens’ group, Ohrid SOS, is campaigning to protect Studenchishte Marsh, the last remaining wetland by the lake.
One of its members, Macedonian scientist Nadezda Apostolova, has written in depth about the importance of the marsh — both for its own biodiversity and its role in cleaning pollution flowing into the lake.
A professor at Spain’s University of Valencia, she said the wetland is already under “severe attack” from construction as trees are gradually replaced by concrete.
Activists said they are not against all types of development, but want to see transparent plans that protect the “jewel” of the landlocked nation and keep it attractive to visitors.
“Everything is at risk with these developments,” Apostolova said.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese