Natural and Cultural Heritage of the Ohrid region

• Management systems/ management plan
• Buildings and development
• Ground transport infrastructure
• Major visitor accommodation and associated infrastructure (proposed Galičica Ski Centre)
• Impacts of tourism / visitor / recreation

Total amount granted: USD 20 000 (UNESCO Regional Bureau for Science and Culture in Europe, Venice)

On 22 February 2024, the States Parties submitted a joint state of conservation report, available at https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/99/documents/, complemented by ten annexes, which reported as follows:

Transboundary activities:

• Revision of the Strategic Recovery Plan based on the requests of the Committee, including the extension to Albania of several activities previously reported only for North Macedonia;
• Exchanges on modification of the road Corridor VIII route and connection by tunnel;
• Planning of a feasibility study for an alternative route of railway Corridor VIII in the section Struga – Albanian/North Macedonian border (expected in 2024);
• Cross-border project COOLTOUR (IPA II programme) to strengthen joint promotion of tourism and cultural heritage, involving the municipalities of Struga (North Macedonia) and Pogradec (Albania);
• First activities for the development of a transboundary WEBGIS database for the registration of cultural heritage and archaeological sites in the Lake Ohrid region;
• Four transboundary meetings were held: three technical meetings on the occasion of other events and meetings and one high-level meeting of the Ministers responsible for cultural heritage on preservation of cultural heritage and restitution of illegally exported cultural objects.

North Macedonia:

• 18 emergency measures were adopted in September 2023;
• Preparation of new draft laws on property management, cultural heritage protection and the declaration of the Old City Core of Ohrid as cultural heritage of particular importance; the latter allows for a change in the protection regime and subsequent interim protection until the Detailed Urban Plans (DUP) for the 19 complexes are finalised;
• Ongoing procedures for the adoption of new laws on fisheries and aquaculture, on the declaration of Studenčišča Marsh in Ohrid as a Nature Park, and on the declaration of Lake Ohrid as Monument of Nature;
• Planned amendment of the Law on Inland Navigation (expected in 2024);
• Preparation of a feasibility study for Urban Plans for areas and buildings of national importance for the protected zone in the coastal belt of Lake Ohrid (yet to be completed);
• First steps to ensure compliance of DUPs for 18 urban communities with the management plan and to prepare an Urban Plan for areas and buildings of national significance in 12 cadastral municipalities;
• Upgrading the monitoring infrastructure by installing automatic instruments at several hydrological stations;
• Development of an orthophoto-based detection and monitoring system for illegal building activities in Galičica National Park;
• Ongoing development of a priority list of key habitats of national and European importance and species status;
• Work continued on the diversion of the Sateska River;
• Installation of equipment related to sewage and wastewater management;
• Seasonal lake monitoring campaigns;
• Removed abandoned fishing gears from natural trout spawning grounds;
• Inventoried inappropriate technical installations and commercial billboards for removal;
• Translation of the Guidance and Toolkit for Impact Assessments in a World Heritage Context into Macedonian;
• Preparation of a guide for owners/holders of immovable cultural heritage properties on heritage protection legislation and procedures.

Albania:

• Progress in maintenance and restoration works implemented by the Protected Areas and Cultural Heritage Administration and the Municipality of Pogradec;
• Development of the Drilon-Tushemisht Water Park project continued;
• Information on a project proposal for the conservation and enhancement of the Early Christian Church and mosaics in Lin to improve visitor experience;
• Preparation of documentation for the declaration of the Lin village as a protected landscape;
• Monitoring of birds, tree cutting and extraction, unauthorised grazing, wastewater discharge, fires, etc.;
• Regular cleaning of the shoreline and of the city water streams;
• Partial rehabilitation of water streams near Rrëmenj and Çërravë;
• Closure and surface arrangement of the Peshkëpi dumpsite;
• The Municipality of Pogradec has set up a task force to monitor rivers to prevent water pollution;
• Adoption of a law requiring business holders to install independent sewerage systems if not connected to the municipal sewage grid;
• Various awareness-raising activities.

A joint World Heritage Centre/IUCN/ICOMOS Reactive Monitoring mission to the property took place (25-29 March 2024), the report of which will be available at the above link.

On 12 January 2024, at the request of the State Party of Albania, an online meeting was organised to present the Waterscape Park Design of the Drilon-Tushemisht project to UNESCO and the Advisory Bodies. Representatives of the then Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Tourism and Environment and the Albanian-American Development Foundation (AADF) participated.

On 21 March 2024, the World Heritage Centre transmitted to the State Party of North Macedonia information from third parties presenting activities and projects that would have been initiated since 2021, such as urban plans, illegal constructions that have been legalised and beach bars that have reopened, a visual report concerning the erosion of the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of the property due to lake pollution, overfishing, tourism infrastructure projects and solid waste as well as information and visual material of urbanisation of the Lake Ohrid region and specific cases of construction projects. The State Party of North Macedonia replied on 7 May 2024 that non-permanent structures that were easily dismantled and made of natural materials have been granted short-term leases in accordance with the applicable legal provisions, and that equipment was installed on land and not on Lake Ohrid using installations already that existed in the past. The State Party further informed that the construction of a sewage treatment plant in the village of Trpejca was planned and would be easily connected to the wider sewage system, and that a building plot referred in the annexes to the World Heritage Centre’s letter had received the appropriate opinion and been sent to the Ministry of Culture.

On 21 March 2024, the World Heritage Centre transmitted a second letter to the State Party of Albania containing information from a third party concerning alleged planned development projects in the lakeside town of Pogradec and a potential adverse impact on the environmental, ecological and cultural heritage of a motorboat race for powerboats on Lake Ohrid. In the context of the submission of documents following the Reactive Monitoring mission in March 2024, the State Party of Albania denied the veracity of both pieces of information.

While welcoming some progress by the States Parties in responding to the Committee’s request in 2021, which noted that the ‘legacy of erosion of the attributes over decades, combined with the continuing impact of the development in both parts of the transboundary property, represent actual and potential danger’ and called for the development of a Strategic Recovery Plan (SRP) with an associated phased Action Plan, to address the identified severe and multiple threats to the OUV of the property, progress remains worryingly limited. The 2024 revised SRP and the strengthening of its governance mechanisms in North Macedonia is a positive step. However, there is an urgent need to implement the SRP without delay and to prioritise its most urgent actions. The Committee may also wish to recommend that Albania upgrade the status of the SRP, including through clear and reinforced governance, e.g., through governmental endorsement, to ensure the effectiveness of its implementation.

Transboundary cooperation  remains limited. Reinforcing transboundary cooperation, including through the regular functioning of the Transboundary Watershed Management Committee, involving high-level representatives, would provide the Transboundary Working Group with the necessary mandate to implement and address urgent transboundary challenges in a timely and effective manner. The commitment of both States Parties to establish a public webpage detailing progress on the SRP will be an important transparency mechanism.

It is noted that the feasibility study for the alternative route of Corridor VIII, which has not progressed sufficiently since 2023, should be prepared in 2024 and that the contractor will be required to undertake a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) and/or an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) to assess potential impacts on the OUV. The Committee may wish to request the States Parties to submit all assessments and relevant technical information to the World Heritage Centre for review by the Advisory Bodies before any irreversible decisions are taken.

The delayed completion of the ‘Feasibility Study for an Urban Plan for Areas and Structures of State Significance for the protected coastal zone in the Ohrid Region’, financially supported by various United Nations agencies and programmes, including UNESCO, as a prerequisite for urban plans of State significance in North Macedonia, in accordance with the 2020 Law on Urban Planning, is noted. The Committee may wish to recall its previous request to the State Party to submit it to the World Heritage Centre for review by the Advisory Bodies, upon completion.

Pending the finalisation of the report of the 2024 mission, analysis of documentation and information available for the preparation of the present report indicates that the state of conservation of the property has not improved since 2020, despite some steps taken by the States Parties and local improvements in the implementation of measures to protect the attributes that convey the OUV of the property. The cumulative threats to the OUV of the property persist, while new threats have emerged that continue to make the state of conservation of the property vulnerable.

In North Macedonia, the sewage system has been improved and expanded, and progress has been made on the draft laws for Studenčišča Marsh and Lake Ohrid, although they have yet to be completed. The DUPs for the 19 urban complexes in Ohrid have yet to be developed, which has triggered the need for an additional law to address development pressures in the old city core. Dismantling of the platforms encroaching on the lake had begun but is not completed. With the lifting of the building moratorium that followed the approval of the Management Plan for the property, construction has resumed, including in sensitive areas such as near Studenčišča Marsh and Gorica, without a cumulative impact assessment as requested by the Committee since 2016. In this regard, it is recommended that the Committee request the suspension of both projects until an SEA and project-specific impact assessments have been prepared to assess their impacts on the attributes that convey the property’s OUV.

As the inventory of illegal structures is not yet complete and criteria have not been developed to assess their negative impacts, to decide whether and which structures can be legalised or need to be removed, and to prioritise their removal, both States Parties should be recommended to eliminate the negative impacts of illegal structures on the OUV of the property.

The unique ancient urban entity of the old town centre of Ohrid remains negatively affected by innumerable interventions that cumulatively have been eroding its preservation and authenticity.

In Albania, new large-scale development seems to be continuing. The impacts of widening the road between Qafatan and Pogradec still need to be reversed. The bypass road between Pogradec, Tushemisht and the North Macedonian-Albanian border is planned next to the outlet of Drilon Springs, with the risk of run-off. The master plan for Drilon-Tushemisht Water Park includes development on agricultural land that the 2020 mission recommended should not be developed, and road infrastructure and construction in the Drilon Springs area have not been definitively ruled out. Provisions for urban development in the Pogradec General Local Plan, recommended for removal by the 2020 mission remain in place, although projects proposals are to be submitted to the World Heritage Centre. The extension of the sewage network is progressing slowly, and although the new law for private businesses is positive, there appear to be no provisions to ensure compliance. It is therefore unclear how and when the key issue of uncontrolled sewage leakage will be addressed. Emergency measures to address existing threats and prevent new ones, as requested by the Committee, have not yet been put in place.

There are still shortcomings in the management of the property, including in fully recognising the significance of Lake Ohrid as a transboundary property. Large-scale development around the lake, particularly near the main urban centres, has eroded the qualities of the exceptionally harmonious ensemble, reducing understanding and appreciation of the qualities that supported the long development of ecclesiastical life along the shores of the lake.

The high level of vulnerability of the property is not recognised by key decision makers. The implementation of the Committee’s requests, in particular in relation to the implementation of the SRP and its Action Plan, is not sufficient to reverse the danger identified by the Committee in 2021. The state of conservation of the property is not improving and there is no positive trend to begin to restore its integrity.

The report of the Reactive Monitoring mission will be available after the present 46th session of the Committee and its conclusions and recommendations will be presented at the 47th session. The determination of the urgency of the conservation needs of this property requiring a broad mobilisation to preserve its OUV, including the possible inscription on the List of World Heritage in Danger, is therefore deferred to the 47th session.