UNESCO Office in Venice UNESCO Regional Bureau for Science and Culture in Europe (BRESCE) • Territorial Diagnostic of the Tara River Basin Biosphere Reserve and the Durmitor World Heritage Site in Montenegro UPDATED VERSION Davide Poletto (Ph.D.) Research grant 875.757.6 FR: 3240102709 Acknowledgments: Special thanks are reserved to UNESCO BRESCE-Science Section, Environmental Unit team, CHF-FORS Montenegro, The Department of International Relations of the Region of Veneto, the “bureau d’etude Antilia” of Turin (Italy), The Italian National Park of Dolomiti Bellunesi, the Italian Research Association for Sustainable Development Initiatives, Mr. Jérôme Gandin, and Mr. Michele Vivenzi for their precious contribution in funding, elaborating and finalising this research. 1 IT/2007/SC/PI/02 Disclaimer The authors are responsible for the choice and the presentation of the facts contained in this publication and for the opinions expressed therein, which are not necessarily those of UNESCO and do not commit the Organization. The designation employed and the presentation of material throughout this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of UNESCO concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. © UNESCO Office in Venice – UNESCO Regional Bureau for Science and Culture in Europe (BRESCE) 2007 Palazzo Zorzi – 4930 Castello, Venice, Italy Tel. +39-041-260-1511, Fax. +39-041-528-9995 Email: [email protected] Webpage: http://unesco.org/venice 2 INDEX PREMISE.…………………………………………………………………………………................4 INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………………………..........….6 TERRITORIAL DIAGNOSTIC (PART I)- DATA ANALYSIS.............................................................9 GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF INTERVIWEES…………………………….…...……………......10 1. GENDER 2. AGE 3. FAMILY STRUCTURE 4. RESIDENCE & FACILITIES (1-2-3-4) 5. EDUCATION 6. PROFESSION (1-2-3-4) FIRST POINT OF FOCUS: GENERAL PERCEPTION OF THE TERRITORY AND ORIENTATIONS TOWARD THE ENVIRONMENT……………………………………..……………………………………………….22 1.SYMBOLS OF THE DURMITOR NATIONAL PARK 2. IMPORTANCE OF REGIONAL ELEMENTS SECOND POINT OF FOCUS: ORIENTATIONS TOWARD THE LOCAL DEVELOPMENT…...........…………………………………………………………………..………..28 1. PRIORITY SECTOR OF ACTIVITY 2. PRIORITY FIELDS OF INVOLVMENT 3. PREFERENCE OF INVESTMENTS 4. PERSONAL SKILL PERCEPTION IN TOURISM THIRD POINT OF FOCUS: ORIENTATIONS TOWARD THE ENVIRONMENT AND THE QUALITY OF LIFE………………………………………………………………………………………………....35 1. GENERAL PERCEPTION OF THE ENVIRONMENT 2. QUALITY OF LIFE 3. VISITS TO THE DURMITOR NATIONAL PARK 4. ISSUES TO BE ADDRESSED 5. FAVOURITE PLACES VISITED FOURTH POINT OF FOCUS: RELATIONS WITH KEY ACTORS IN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND DECISION-MAKING PARTICIPATION…………………………………………………….…………….............................45 1. KEY ACTORS IN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 2 .BEST PARTNERS FOR LOCAL DEVELOPMENT 3.DECISION-MAKING PARTICIPATION IN ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS CONCLUSIONS………………………………………………………………………………….......52 TERRITORIAL DIAGNOSTIC (PART II) ISSUES & OPERATIONAL RECOMMENDATIONS..................................................................................................................................55 BIBLIOGRAPHY.............................................................................................................................................62 ANNEXES: ¾ THE QUESTIONNAIRE ¾ MAP OF THE TARA RIVER BASIN BR & THE TARA RIVER CANYON IN RELATION TO THE BUK BIJELA DAM PROJECT ¾ MAP OF THE DURMITOR AREA ¾ ZONING MAP OF THE TARA RIVER BASIN BR & THE TARA RIVER CANYON –NATIONAL PARK OF DURMITOR - WH SITE ¾ MAP OF THE INTERVIEWED AREA 3 PREMISE The debated question of governance in the designated sites of the Tara River Basin Biosphere Reserve (TR BR) and the World Heritage Site (WHS) of Durmitor in Montenegro goes beneath a mere exercise for top driven legal frameworks provision (international governance) labelled under internationally recognised blasons. It is rather to incubate core principles of conservation and sustainability yielded by the aforementioned institutional devices in bottom and intermediate levels, informing them into effective regimes [VOGLER J. 2003] and sustained social interactions. In other terms, although World Heritage Sites (hereinafter WHS) and Biosphere Reserves (hereinafter BR) are different UNESCO instruments to accordingly provide conservation of natural and cultural sites of outstanding value and combining conservation and development in natural or human influenced ecosystems, their degree of success is determined by the behavioural regularities and convergent expectations in their implementation. This implies that the legal provisions of the aforementioned sites should be capable to mutually reinforcing behavioural regularities and expectations from territorial and international actors, leading to set robust regimes in to force. Such regimes should be consistent with the main objectives underpinned by the Man and Biosphere (MAB) Programme and the WH Convention. According to this perspective, international regimes on Human Rights or Sustainable Development do not exist as ideals or essence prior to their emergence rather they are outgrows of human behaviours. In many cases, indeed, legal provisions are poorly enforced and out of line with the real environmental policy, as laid down in the day by day practices, both at central and peripheral level. Therefore, environmental accords may be formally signed, sealed but de facto undelivered [OMSTROM E. 1990]. Proceeding from this general consideration, the watershed between legal agreements and social practices is characterised by the borderline which turns the former into the latter. Behavioural change is far more necessary than legal change in governance systems whereas government state functions are lacking (international relations), failing, semi- failing (countries in transition) or confronted by countervailing institutions pursuing conflating scope: getting short cash gain in turn of exploitation of natural resources, for instance. Therefore, although the ratification of international binding treaties (World Heritage Convention) or the adhesion to voluntary international programmes promoting sustainable development (MAB) by new state parties is encouraging, their effectiveness lays in the capacity to set an array of generalised behaviours consistent with this formal institutional devices, applied through time (customary behaviours) and space (territory) [YOUNG O. 2002]. The balance of forces to move forward or derail from pathways of sustainable development in Montenegro is evenly matched. The constitutional provision upon which Montenegro is a “democratic, social and ecological state” has to confront with unsustainable practices to boost mass tourism on the coasts, also spread toward the mountain and the rural areas of the Country. Tourism is rightly considered one key factor 4 of National development although this should be governed and domesticated according to the settings of a fragile ecosystem1. The core question here is the following: may UNESCO World Heritage Sites and Biosphere reserves become effective instruments to address biodiversity conservation, economic promotion and sustainable use of natural resources in Montenegro? Answers may result conflating if cognitive perception of local population about their territorial needs are neglected or unknown. Side effects of such misconceivements are also at the very basis of weak or failing effectiveness of regimes informing the sites management. Proceeding from this, social sciences have a word to say in environmental affairs, as they do often offer voice to the final constituencies of the designated sites such as in the purpose of this work. The TR BR (whereas the Heritage Property of Durmitor is one of the core zones) role to play, here, is for organising a collective system of living with natural resources following patterns which have not only to find a balance in developing the welfare of the community, preserving the environment, but also informing their livelihood and their own identities [COOPER,VARGAS 2004]. The finalisation of such system of territorial governance cannot be secured if cognitive elements are not duly investigated, considered and analysed and then uptaken by competent authorities. A substantial prove of this assertion comes from the state of art of the TR BR : this is actually a dead letter regime in where potentialities in the field of sustainable development for local population offered by the conceptual progress explicated under the Seville Strategy are almost non-existent. This comes also from the fact that the TR BR belongs to the early generations of BRs in where the conservational and scientific functions outweighed any other concern related to community consultation and participation, and on socio-economic development. Proceeding from this, the conceptual scope of this research is two folds: a) It aims at deepening a local based perception analysis on the UNESCO designated sites in the North-Western part of the territory of the Republic of Montenegro, namely, the TR BR and the Durmitor National Park (DNP), which coincides with the geographical extension of the World Heritage Site of Durmitor and the core area of the TR BR. b) It encompasses and it does offer follow up recommendations elaborated from a learning shared experience on sustainable development practices between DNP’s stakeholders and the National Park