Albania plans for airport construction raise environmental concerns about Vjosa-Narta protected area

Flamingo in Narta Lagoon

 A group of 36 national and international organizations addressed an open letter to senior Albanian officials and the international delegation in the country to raise an environmental concern regarding the conservation of the Vjosa-Narta Protected Landscape habitat.

"We appreciate the government's initiative for the realization of investments of this nature and we are aware that they serve the socio-economic development of the country," the letter reads.

"But we are also extremely concerned about the situation we are in, because the construction of this airport would irreversibly damage the ecosystem of the Vjosa - Narta Protected Landscape, bringing and accelerating an unfriendly economic model to natural environments, which stimulates uncontrolled and unstable development, and irreversibly destroys the natural resources and values ​​of the area,” said the environmentalists.

Narta Lagoon and the spot where the Albanian Government aims to build the airport

According to the experts of the signatory organizations, Narta Lagoon and the surrounding areas represent one of the largest and most important wetland ecosystems in Albania and the Mediterranean.

The signatories also drew attention to the status as a protected area of ​​the Vjosa-Narta landscape at the national and international level for the importance of biodiversity.

In this area is registered a total number of over 200 species of wild birds, according to environmentalists, and is the most important nesting site in Albania and among the most important in Europe for some species of the Charadriiformes order.

"Furthermore, the Vjosa-Narta regularly carries over 1% of the populations of the two species of the Mediterranean and Black Sea region, such as the curly pelican (Pelecanus crispus) and the flamingo (Phoenicopterus roseus)," experts say.

According to them, the construction of an infrastructure of such dimensions as the proposed airport would irreversibly alienate one of the most important segments of the Adriatic migration corridor, where hundreds of thousands of birds find food and shelter during migratory seasons.

At the end of the letter, the 36 organizations express their readiness "to hold constructive, open and transparent discussions with the government, to find solutions that are in the best interest of the people and nature.".