Durmitor National Park

Proposed dam project on the Tara River; boundary issues; ski development; logging.

Threats to Durmitor National Park by a hydropower plant project were already discussed at the World Heritage Committee in 1985, when the Committee identified the property “for possible inclusion on the List of World Heritage in Danger” and noted “This property had been threatened by the construction of a dam on the Tara River, however, due to public pressure from within and without Yugoslavia, this proposal had been cancelled.  The Committee noted its satisfaction that this threat had now been removed and congratulated the Yugoslav authorities on making the best use of the Convention to support efforts to protect this property.”

UNESCO and IUCN were informed again in 2004 of a hydropower project Buk Bielja (HPBB).  During a meeting at UNESCO Headquarters on 19 November 2004, the Director-General of UNESCO and the President of Serbia and Montenegro, Mr S.  Marovic, discussed the proposed construction of a dam to be built on the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina and its potential impact on the World Heritage property of Durmitor National Park and the Tara River Basin Biosphere Reserve.  The Director-General agreed to the request to send an expert mission to review the situation.  Furthermore, at a meeting on 10 December 2004 held in Tirana, Albania, the President of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mr B.  Paravac, and the Director-General of UNESCO also discussed the HPBB project and they agreed that the proposed mission to Serbia and Montenegro should also meet with the relevant authorities and organizations of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The official letter of 16 December 2004 from the State Party of Serbia and Montenegro, formally invited the international expert mission. 

The joint UNESCO/IUCN mission (WHC, UNESCO Venice, IUCN International and IUCN Regional Office) was undertaken from 17 to 21 January 2005.  The full report of the mission is available on-line at https://whc.unesco.org/archive.2005. The mission was informed of the HPBB project from different sources and at various meetings with a wide variety of stakeholders, including a round table discussion entitled “Protection and Valorisation of the Tara River” organized by the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Physical Planning of the Republic of Montenegro, Public Enterprise “National Parks of Montenegro”, and the Institute for the Protection of Nature, on 17 January 2005.  The mission reviewed a range of relevant documents including the Environmental Study (ES) “Hydro Power Plants Buk Bijela and Srbinje”: Analysis of Environmental Impacts of Hydro Power Plants (Belgrade, March 2000) jointly submitted by the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Physical Planning of the Republic of Montenegro and the State Party, Serbia and Montenegro.

The mission noted the complex history of the project, starting in 1957 with intermittent phases.  Despite the designations of the Tara River Basin Biosphere Reserve (1977) and the Durmitor National Park World Heritage property (1980) and the decisions of the World Heritage Committee (1985 and following sessions), activities began again in 1988 and 2000 to 2004. 

The mission noted the key issues and concerns, as raised by various stakeholders after evaluating the project and its potential effects: environmental and socio-economic impacts, Long-term economic viability, threats to the values and integrity of the World Heritage property and relevance for the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, impacts on the tangible and intangible cultural heritage and population relocation and risk preparedness.  In addition, the mission identified a number of other issues regarding the state of conservation of the site, including the spatial plan for the Durmitor National Park Region and its relation to the hydropower project, Public participation and management issues; Management and Management Plan, Ski development and exclusion of the city of Zabljak; Other factors affecting the World Heritage property; Issues concerning the Biosphere Reserve; Sustainable Development of the Durmitor Region; and transboundary context. 

The mission made a wide range of specific recommendations both as a follow-up to the 1996 mission as well as the hydropower project and concluded that this project would constitute a threat to the values and integrity of the property and the buffering UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. 

The mission specifically recommended danger listing of the property in accordance with the Operational Guidelines should the current project be pursued, as the Buk Bijela dam project constitutes a potential threat to the outstanding universal value of the property, as well as to its integrity, particularly as the National Natural Monument of the Tara River and the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve of the Tara River Basin, buffering the World Heritage property, would be flooded by such a dam project.

Following the results of the mission the Director-General of UNESCO transmitted the detailed report to both States Parties to the Convention for comments.  On 31 January 2005 minor boundary changes to the World Heritage property were submitted to the World Heritage Centre, as result of recommendations of both the 1996 and 2005 missions.

On 1 April 2005, a detailed report was received from the authorities of Serbia and Montenegro which confirmed that the Government of Montenegro, had halted the project.

The Director General congratulated the State Party for its swift action and for the approach taken in support of World Heritage conservation.