Clear vote in the Vlora airport case: At the 56th meeting of the Standing Committee of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species (CMS) at the end of March, the construction of the Vlora International Airport in the middle of the Vjosa-Narta protected area in Albania was discussed.
The scaffolding for the hangar of the planned Vlora airport is already in place. Despite national and international protests, construction is continuing.
© Hansjörg Brey
The very rare Dalmatian pelicans visit the Narta Lagoon as feeding guests. Possible collisions between the giant birds and aeroplanes taking off or landing pose a danger to flight safety.
© Ondrej ViziThe Committee, the highest-ranking body of the international agreement for the period between the biennial Conferences of the Parties, is calling on the Albanian government to carry out a comprehensive ecological assessment of the airport’s impact on the Dalmatian pelican and other protected species.
Once the results of this assessment are available, the Albanian government will have to reassess whether construction can continue or needs to be modified. In addition, the Committee further recommends that a management plan be drawn up that includes measures to mitigate and compensate for the negative environmental impacts of the construction and operation of the airport.
The Committee also emphasises the need to suspend construction until the protection of migratory animal species in the region is guaranteed. To this end, the Committee offers its support to the Albanian government and requests a progress report on the implementation of the recommendations by the next CMS meeting.
"This is the first time that the so-called CMS review mechanism has been implemented. This illustrates the scale of the threat to migratory birds in particular if the airport were to go into operation," says EuroNatur Executive Director Gabriel Schwaderer. "The fact that the next international convention after the Bern Convention is now calling for a construction freeze on Vlora Airport gives us and our partners a tailwind for our continued commitment against the airport construction."