In Macedonia, the fight to save the oldest lake in Europe

In an attempt to preserve the classification of the site as a World Heritage Site, the municipality of this city in North Macedonia has just cut the electricity to the establishment, which is accessed by a rickety wooden footbridge.

"Everyone loses, the employees, the local economy, and of course the tourists because they have nowhere to go on the beach," the 59-year-old restaurateur told AFP in front of dozens of summer visitors. who bask in the sun.

The Lake Ohrid region, stretching as far as the eye can see on the border between North Macedonia and Albania, has been recognized for four decades for its unique biodiversity and architectural and cultural heritage. But Unesco is threatening to place the lake on its list of endangered sites with a decision expected in July.

In recent months, the Municipality of Ohrid has dismantled a dozen bars and restaurants deemed non-compliant on the shores of the lake formed more than 1,3 million years ago.

Environmentalists take note but see it as a drop in the water in an ocean of wild urbanization at work across the region since the disappearance of Yugoslavia in the 1990s.

The small town of Ohrid, considered one of the oldest settlements in Europe, home to hundreds of Byzantine icons and Neolithic remains, has spilled far beyond its ancient borders. The shores of the lake are now dotted with five-story hotels, piers and other businesses.

There are no shortage of problems between agricultural runoff, rivers diverted into the lake carrying pollution, faulty treatment of wastewater, the felling of reeds serving as natural filters for the water, the projects of marinas or transport infrastructure.

"Lake cancer"

There is also the difficulty for two poor Balkan countries to coordinate the protection of a site whose Albanian part has been classified by Unesco for only three years.

"After 30 years of neglect, it is probably normal for Unesco to lose patience," admits Mayor Konstantin Georgieski, 43, who has run the city since the death of his predecessor in 2018.

"It all went wrong," says Nikola Paskali, 33, diver and archaeologist. If he has been exploring the bottom of the lake for years in search of remains of the Bronze Age, he also organizes outings to collect the plastic bottles, televisions, old bathtubs, even toilet glasses that are there.

"Litter is the cancer of the lake," he told AFP, accusing the authorities of not doing much to preserve the biodiversity of a site where 200 endemic species live, including declining populations of sea trout. 'Ohrid.

Both local and government authorities claim to have taken the problem head on with the adoption of a management plan for the next decade, but are asking for time to implement Unesco's recommendations.

For the time being, Mayor Georgieski says he has "completely rid" the beaches of thatched huts in a complicated context which has allowed thousands of owners to build thanks to the loopholes of a millefeuille of contradictory laws. According to Unesco, a third of Ohrid's wastewater ends up directly in the lake.

"It's hard to destroy people's property in a small town" of 50.000 people, he explains. "I am their personal enemy now".

Local authorities are arguing for more sustainable, family and cultural tourism rather than gatherings of revelers.

A balance"

"It's not Ibiza here," said the mayor. Defenders of the environment believe that the UN does well to sound the alarm and hope that funding will be mobilized.

"This is the only way to stop all this devastation," exclaims Katerina Vasileska, from the NGO Ohrid SOS. Even "if we start now, it will take years and years to repair the damage."

Dimitar Pendoski assures us that he had all the necessary permits for his restaurant, which has welcomed customers at the water's edge for ten years.

We need a "balance", he pleads. "The goal is common, to have more customers, to protect the lake and nature, but we need local economic development".

The debate which opposes all over the planet the proponents of development to the defenders of the environment is a false debate, retort the ecologists.

"We have to keep the lake clean because otherwise we will lose everything, lose tourism," says Nikola Paskali.

For Katerina Vasileska, things are even clearer. "We employ 30 people but we pollute the water of 50.000 people".