Podgorica, (MINA) - The greatest value of the Natura 2000 project is that Montenegro’s nature will be protected on a much larger scale than before, it was announced at a press conference marking the establishment of an ecological network for the protection of Natura 2000 areas.

The representative of the Environmental Protection Agency, Milena Batakovic, said that since 2017, the Agency has been conducting field research on habitat and species mapping.

She said that Natura 2000 benefits everyone in the sense that certain natural areas are preserved.

“But also, it represents a key obligation on Montenegro’s EU accession path, because Chapter 27, in its fifth point, states that the state is obliged to submit a proposal for Nature 2000 areas that sufficiently cover habitats and species on the territory of Montenegro, as a contribution to the protection of European biodiversity”, said Batakovic.

Batakovic stated that there will be a public discussion on the proposed areas, followed by a review of comments.

“After that, the proposal will be submitted to the European Commission for further evaluation, the EC will organize a biogeographical seminar with NGOs, mainly from Montenegro, to check the scientific papers and our databases, and at that meeting, it will be assessed whether the network has sufficiently covered what was requested, and in relation to that, the EC will eventually return the request to supplement the proposal”, explained Batakovic.

As she added, it will then be approved by the Government.

Minister of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Development of the North, Damjan Culafic, responding to a question on whether the Ministry has the personnel and financial capacity to monitor the implementation of Nature 2000, said that the Ministry currently does not have sufficinet administrative capacities.

“However, in the coming days, public calls will be announced and experts should be hired and the administrative capacities of the Ministry should be strengthened. 39 call will be announced and I believe that there will interest in this interesting and important topic for Montenegro”, said Culafic.

He said that most of the funding for the project will be provided through IPA funds.