“Comment is free, but facts are sacred.” — C. P. Scott, 1921.
Government disregarded scientific assessment when shrinking national parks
Erblin Vukaj · Originally published: 30 October 2024
In this article
The lawsuit and the experts’ assessment
The government reduced the area of at least five national parks without relying on scientific assessments. This disregard is expected to prompt the Administrative Court of Appeal to overturn its decisions.
The news was announced on Tuesday by the non-profit organisation Res Publica. A centre advocating for the public interest, it is a party alongside 10 other environmental organisations that have called for a review of the government’s changes to the boundaries of the national parks of Divjaka, Butrint, Shebenik, Dajti and Lura.
The areas of these parks were changed by two government decisions in 2022 that removed some sections from the protected-area category.
At the latest hearing, on 28 October, biologists called by the Court gave scientific opinions similar to those offered earlier by experts presented by the organisations bringing the lawsuit.
“All the areas removed have high biodiversity value and are important habitats for endangered species. Their removal undermines not only these areas but also the integrity of the parks themselves,” Res Publica quoted the experts as saying in a press release.
Following this development, Res Publica says a scientific position has now been consolidated that the government had not considered when drafting Decisions No. 59 and 60, which changed the areas of Category II and IV parks.
“We stress that the law on protected areas establishes scientific criteria for designating protected areas; these criteria depend neither on political interests nor on those of economic development,” Res Publica added.
The decisions being challenged:
- Council of Ministers Decision No. 59 of 26.01.2022 “On approving changes to the status and area of National Park Natural Ecosystems (Category II) of Environmentally Protected Areas”
- Council of Ministers Decision No. 60 of 26.01.2022 “On the designation of Natural Ecosystems, Managed Nature Reserves/Natural Parks (Category IV), and approval of changes to the status of existing Protected Areas in this category”.
The civil society organisations bringing the case:
- AOS – Albanian Ornithological Society
- Eco Albania
- PPNEA – Protection and Preservation of Natural Environment in Albania
- EDEN – Environmental center for Development Education and Networking
- Milieukontakt Albania
- REC – The Resource Environmental Center Albania
- IMPETUS
- Albanian Centre for Environmental Governance (ACEG)
- Kujri
- Res Publica
- Centre for Legal Empowerment
The case against the two government decisions has been heard at the Administrative Court of Appeal by Judge Ardian Dvorani since February 2023.
There have been 26 hearings so far, only eight of them trial hearings. The remainder were preparatory hearings, mainly devoted to preparing and examining expert opinions.