Two years ago, on 10 September 2019, the Ulcinj Salina in the South of Montenegro was declared as a RAMSAR site, a Wetland of International Importance.
Ulcinj Salina offers great potential for nature-friendly tourism.
© Janinka Lutze
Flamingos are just one of the many ornithological specialities of Salina Ulcinj.
© Adrian Perovic2019 was a good year for Ulcinj Salina: in June, the salt pans at the Adriatic coast were declared as Nature Park. This national protection act cleared the way to designate the salina as a RAMSAR site, too. A great success for EuroNatur, their partners in Montenegro and Europe, who have worked for 15 years to achieve protection of the birds paradise.
EuroNatur‘s campaigner Janinka Lutze says, that the designation as Nature Park and RAMSAR site creates good opportunities for the community of Ulcinj to use and sustain the salina in the long term, while, at the same time, it will remain a nesting and resting area for the birds. It was a long struggle by EuroNatur and their partners to achieve this protection. In July of this year, the good news came that Ulcinj salina had been returned to state ownership - for years the ownership situation had been unclear.
However, the living conditions for the salt-loving species in the salina have deteriorated due to the lack of management measures for years. Our local partners are committed to stopping the decline of this area. „We will continue to accompany the political process. We will make sure that the right steps are taken to revitalise the salina and preserve it as a habitat for the numerous animal and plant species. Our primary goal is an effective management plan“, Zenepa Lika, head of the Martin-Schneider Jacobi Association (MSJA) states. „At the same time, we support and enable the people from Ulcinj and its neighbourhood to offer sustainable projects with and in the Ulcinj Salina, thus strengthening the socio-economic factor.“