Reflections on a Montenegrin lake
by: Saren Starbridge

Each day the women came to the fountain to fill their containers and carry water back to the village, carefully shutting off the flow before they left. One day at the fountain, a young bride heard the wonderful news that her husband would be home from abroad that night. Excited, she rushed home, forgetting to turn off the fountain. All through the night, the sweet fresh water flowed. In the morning, it was a lake.

Lake Skadar, springing from a legend of joyous anticipation, is one of the great treasures of Montenegro, one of the six republics of the former Yugoslavia

In a land exalted by spectacular twisting, jagged mountains and deep gorges, level ground is something rare and precious. Beyond the steep hills backing the picturesque bays, fjords and coves of Montenegro's Adriatic coast lies the Zeta plain, the most densely settled part of Montenegro where one finds the country's two largest cities, Niksic, and the capital, Podgorica. It also includes the fertile Zeta River valley and Lake Skadar, the largest lake in the Balkans and the largest body of fresh water in the Mediterranean region.

Fed by several deep springs and rivers, mainly the Moraca, Lake Skadar covers as much as 542km2 during the rainy season, stretching across the Montenegrin border into Albania. Its broad expanse reflects the moods of sky and weather: deep blue, misty grey or molten gold. Here, waterfowl find refuge along the lake's wooded, rock-strewn and reedy shorelines, as well as in the adjoining Rijeka Crnojevica wetlands.

The extraordinary ecological value of Lake Skadar, with its 270 bird species and 40 fish species, is well recognized. It is a national park and, since 1995, has been listed under the Ramsar Convention as a Wetland of International Importance. Nature lovers come from Montenegro's cities or abroad to walk, picnic, drop a hopeful fishing line, or focus their binoculars on the prolific birdlife.

The biological wealth of the lake has also attracted human settlement since prehistoric times. Small, multi-ethnic, multi-cultural villages "Murici, Krnjice, Seoca, Godinje, Virpazar, Vranjina, Dodosi and others" dot the shoreline with fishing shacks and houses crowd the water's edge. Low craggy islands break the lake's surface, many of which are inhabited by churches and monasteries that have stood the test of time for centuries.

But, as idyllic and picturesque as it all seems, Lake Skadar is far from pure.

Beauty is only skin deep
When the lake recedes in the dry season, summer visitors who came to enjoy the natural beauty or to catch a glimpse of numerous pelicans, cormorants, herons and black storks are as likely to see old rusting boilers and bedsprings, wrecked cars, drifts of sodden plastic bags, and an assortment of other discarded junk.

Waste disposal was not a prime consideration during the Balkan conflict, said Darko Pajovic, former president of the Podgorica-based environmental NGO, Green Home.

Transport to managed waste sites was difficult. It was easier to drop the offending waste into the lake and let the waters close over and hide the problem.

Although the conflict that unravelled Yugoslavia in the 1990s did not touch the Lake Skadar region directly, imposed economic sanctions forced people to focus their energies more on immediate survival than with such things as long-term environmental planning. Sadly, the treasures of Lake Skadar's rich history faded fast as villagers fished to keep their families alive.

But not everyone had forgotten the many splendours the lake has to offer. When Darko Pajovic looks at Lake Skadar he still sees rich biodiversity and a place where eco-tourism might support the area's natural values. But, he also sees major pollution problems, as well.

Flowing past Podgorica, the Moraca River carries both sewage and contaminated wastewater from an aluminium plant into the lake. The plant employs thousands of people and is a vital part of the city's economy. As a result, the government has by and large ignored the concerns of village and the rural community, particularly at the environmental level. With lack of strong environmental legislation or regulation in Montenegro, Lake Skadar has been neglected.

A call to action
From September 2003 to April 2004, Green Home carried out an evaluation of the lake, including potential eco-tourism projects. During the evaluation it became clear that locals had little awareness of the ecological value and potential of the lake.

When economic hardship and political instability have separated people from an appreciation of their natural resources, how do you re-connect them? It has to be a grass-roots effort, Green Home coordinator Lidija Zekovic responded to her own question. With the national government there is a lot of attention to developing strategies and programmes. What we need is a local action plan.

Working with WWF Mediterranean, Green Home began developing local action plans that included the involvement of local government, clubs and NGOs to gather much needed data: how many dumps are there and where?; where are the safe disposal sites?; and how can the rubbish be transported? Promotional materials were also developed to emphasize the importance of preserving the lake and its habitats, and residents were invited to participate in clean-up activities.

By the end of 2004, volunteers had cleaned a school yard and town centre in Virpazar, Vranjina Beach and the island of Lesendro. School children and sporting clubs filled bag after bag with rubbish. Fishing boats were pressed into service, carrying volunteers out to scoop more rubbish from the shallow edges of the lake. Local governments helped remove large items such as abandoned cars, beds and boilers, and transported the material to a proper waste disposal site in Podgorica.

With an estimated ten tonnes of debris removed from the lake, improvements were immediate and satisfying, said Zekovic. The school children were the best. They asked for more actions, suggested future activities and asked to be involved with the lake's protection.

Keep it clean
The project, known as the Clean Lake Project, came to an end in December 2004, but WWF and Green Home want to see it continue.
This is part of a commitment to building capacity and strengthening partnerships with NGOs and the local community in this unique area, said Francesca Antonelli of WWF Mediterranean's Freshwater Programme.

Media coverage, an important part of the project plan, has already spread the idea and inspired enthusiastic responses from many schools that are now organizing their own clean-up activities. In addition an annual clean-up day dedicated to celebrating the lake "Pure Lake Day" has been declared for October 30th.

We are focusing our activities on primary school children so they will grow up looking after the lake, said Zekovic, describing Green Home's long-term goals. We want to spread awareness of the lake throughout the year. There is still much to do.

The hard work, however, is starting to pay off.

The area is visibly cleaner and even the rare curly pelicans are returning. Eleven pairs were recently counted nesting on the lake. Although the nesting area is currently closed to visitors to protect the population, it is still possible to glimpse one of these massive birds skimming elegantly over the lake in search of fish.

Lake Skadar is a place of ecological importance and reflects a growing sense of community pride, Zekovic added. Now we have to continue maintaining the integrity of this legendary treasure.

* Saren Starbridge is a freelance writer based in Queensland, Australia