NGO Green Home signed a Memorandum of Cooperation on the prevention and promotion of forest landscapes resistant to fires with the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management, the Ministry of Tourism, Ecology, Sustainable Development and the Development of the North, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Municipality of Kolašin, the Forest Administration, the Agency for management of protected areas in Podgorica, as well as Komovi Nature Park.
The memorandum was signed within the MediteRE3 project – Building the resilience of Mediterranean landscapes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions caused by forest fires, which aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions caused by forest fires by moving from suppression to prevention and promotion of fire-resistant landscapes.
As the director of NGO Green Home Azra Vuković pointed out, during the implementation of the project, a baseline study on the resistance of the landscape to fires in NP Prokletije and PP Komovi was prepared, but also a series of expert meetings were also held, that resulted in the creation of a Landscape Action Plan, which is the basis for strengthening the resistance of the mentioned areas to forest fires.
“Forest fires traditionally occur in Mediterranean ecosystems as natural disturbances, and play a key ecological role that contributes to maintaining the health of the ecosystem and shaping the special characteristics of the vegetation of the Mediterranean region. However, during the last decades, significant environmental, social, economic and political changes have led to a significant increase in the intensity and frequency of fires. Increasing landscape fire resilience requires understanding the complex interactions within the landscape. In this context, the FLR (Forest Landscape Restoration) principles are a good tool for identifying appropriate FSL (Fire Smart Landscape) principles that serve as a guide for effective planning of smart fire management practices that would help reduce the risk of fire ignition and spread“, Vuković said.
She pointed out that the goal of signing the memorandum is for the signatories to see the possibilities and available capacities for the application of the FLR principle – the principle of Forest Landscape Restoration in the direction of smart management of forest fires in the area of NP Prokletije and PP Komovi.
“The memorandum foresees that the opportunities and available capacities, both human and financial, for the inclusion of activities from the Landscape Action Plan in the regular plans and activities of the signatories of the Memorandum, as well as joint and partnership work to find sources of funding for the activities from the Landscape Action Plan,” Vuković said.
Director of the National Parks of Montenegro, Vladimir Martinović, pointed out that the company recognizes the importance of the “MediteRE3” project, which faces the serious challenge of climate change, which causes more frequent and intense fires in the Mediterranean area.
“That’s why solving this problem is urgent, taking into account that it is the most developed tourist region, an area where the main economic activity takes place in the summer period when the risk of fire is the highest,” Martinović pointed out.
Tamara Brajović, director of the Directorate for Nature Protection, pointed out that this is a very important initiative and that signing the memorandum is a good way for the signatories to undertake to carry out the recommended activities in order to prevent fires.
Miodrag Bešović, acting director of the Directorate for Protection and Rescue reminded that this topic became even more topical after the EC report on the implementation of Chapter 27, with which, as he said, we cannot be satisfied.
The memorandum was signed at the final conference of the MediteRE3 project – Building the resilience of Mediterranean landscapes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions caused by forest fires, which the NGO Green Home is implementing in cooperation with the Oikos Institute from Italy, the Luberon-Lure UNESCO Biosphere Reserve from France and the National Observatory of Athens and Samaria National Park from Greece, with the support of the European Climate Initiative (EUKI).