Martin Schneider-Jacoby, Project Manager at the EuroNatur Foundation (European Nature Heritage Fund) since 1989 and responsible for projects as Karst Poljes, Adriatic Flyway and Sava Wetlands. He is involved in the research of wetlands since 25 years and lobbies for the huge importance of the sites for bird migration and regional development.
1 – According to you which are the priority actions for the wetlands in the Balkan region?
There are three major types of wetlands: lakes, karst poljes and rivers including the coastal zone in the region. Among priorities, I see two urgent ones: the need to follow a participatory, democratic and transparent process for dam construction and water extraction with serious environmental impact assessment (EIA) and the need to promote the great importance of the intact wetlands and coastal areas for the future of tourism in countries as Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Montenegro.
From the large Balkan lakes, Lake Skadar is threatened most, as the volume of the planned hydropower plants at the Moraca River is bigger than of the lake. The crucial pulse effect, which floods 10.000 – 15.000 ha each year would be lost after building the dams.
Karst poljes are often not recognised as wetlands and water abstraction for hydro power and drainage is a huge problem for example in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Rivers and their deltas are threatened most, as over 400 new dams are planned in the region. Sediment transport is not considered as an issue in EIAs for example at the Sava River in Slovenia or the new dam in the Europe’s largest braided river, the Drin River near Shkodra. This dam is built by the Austrian firm “Verbund”. More construction of dams would cause a decreasing flux of sediments that will impact negatively on the coastal erosion. This erosion is not only endangering the barrier islands along the Albanian coast but also tourism attraction as on Ada-Bojana island. Decreased tourism attraction due to the degradation of the ecosystems may also impact negatively on local tourism value chain and people livelihood.
2 – Could you give us a brief description of the case of the Neretva Delta, including the main pressures?
The Neretva forms a worldwide unique Karst Delta, where the tributaries entre the logons and lakes through underground aquifers. The main tributary of the Neretva, the Trebisnica River in the famous Popovo Polje, has been put into concrete already in Yugoslav times. Today during summer the river canal is dry, as the water is sold to the Croatian electricity producer HEP and ends in the Adriatic near Dubrovnik. Now the Neretva Delta is threatened by salt water intrusion, but instead of returning water to the delta, more water is planned to be diverted to the sea through a second tunnel and further drainage of Karst Poljes in the upper Neretva basin. Thus the main river and Ramsar Hutovo Blato wetlands would even lose even more water in future as it will be transferred through the chain of hydropower plants directly to the sea. Both Ramsar Site, Neretva Delta in Croatia and Hutovo Blato in Bosnia-Herzegovina, are already threatened by drought. Recently an EIA has been accepted in Croatia to build a sluice in the estuary in order to increase irrigated agriculture production and to stop salt water intrusion. Surprisingly, the fact that these changes are implemented inside a Ramsar site was not mentioned in the EIA.
3 – Which activities must be implemented to improve the situation?
Both Ramsar Sites in the Neretva Delta are threatened by the unsustainable water use: directly by lack of water and indirectly by the projects trigger to stop salt water intrusion and save food production. The World Bank is already implementing a GEF project to preserve the unique biodiversity of the Neretva basin including the Trebisnica tributary. A moratorium is needed on all planned new hydropower and irrigations projects. Before the connection between the different impacts has not been clearly analysed and different alternative solutions tested, the sluice in the Neretva estuary should not be built. Action is urgent, as the large peat layers in the Neretva Delta – as well as in the drained part of Liavnjsko Polje Ramsar site- are regular damaged by large bush fires. In addition several endemic fish species and hundreds of hectares of calcareous fens dominated by the great fen sedge (Cladium mariscus) are endangered.
4 – How international organizations can contribute to these actions?
International experts have to review the EIAs and physical plans for the Neretva Delta Ramsar site in Croatia. As Croatia wants to enter the EU and the planning has to be based on Natura 2000. EuroNatur has prepared maps of the key habitats and mapped indicators as the European Bittern to indicate those parts of the delta, which lack better protection. The physical plan published in 2010, still promotes the creation of new cultivated land. In addition the preparation of the River basin Management Plan funded by GEF needs to be supervised as the Croatian firm Elektroprojekt, which is deeply involved in the construction of hydropower dams, has been selected to prepare the document. The great beauty of the Neretva Delta, the existing large Ramsar sites and the specific biodiversity deserve better protection as until now and care full monitoring of the planned impacts. The creation of the Nature Park Neretva Delta is a Big Win commitment of the Croatian government signed during the CBD COP 9 in Bonn 2008 not fulfilled until today.
Legends:
1st picture: The Karst spring and river Norin in the protected area Prud near Vid shows the beauty of the Neretva Delta and is a unique selling point for the tourism destination shared by Croatia and Bosnia-Hercegovina.
2nd picture: Dabarsko Polje: Tunnel to transfer water from Neretva through the chain of hydropower dams to the Adriatic in Dabarsko Polje.
3rd picture: Burned peatland due to the lack of water in the Nature Park and Ramsar Site Hutovo Blato. Jasminko Mulaomerovic, Karst Institute.
