Autodesk Water
Connecting Waterpeople

You are here

Montenegro names Ulcinj Salina as a Ramsar Site

  • Montenegro names Ulcinj Salina as Ramsar Site
    Ulcinj Salina. Credit: CZIP, Igor Stojović, 2015

About the entity

Ramsar
The Convention on Wetlands, called the Ramsar Convention, is the intergovernmental treaty that provides the framework for the conservation and wise use of wetlands and their resources.

Montenegro has designated Ulcinj Salina as its third Wetland of International Importance (Ramsar Site no. 2399). The Site on the Adriatic coast, close to the border with Albania, is the largest salina (saltpan) in the Adriatic. It was built in the 1930s, and salt production stopped in 2013. The Site is divided into several areas which had different purposes in the salt production process, such as crystallization and evaporation. They are now mostly covered by grassland, halophyte vegetation and reeds.

Ulcinj Salina is the most important wintering, nesting and feeding site for birds on the eastern coast of the Adriatic and a key stopover site for birds migrating on the Adriatic Flyway. Overall, 252 bird species have been recorded in the Site, 20 of them globally threatened. In addition, one endangered amphibian (Albanian water frog), one reptile (European pond turtle) and one mammal (European otter) are present.

Due to the stopping of salt production, the Site is at risk of losing the halophyte vegetation, which would be substituted with more common vegetation types, negatively affecting the biodiversity which it supports.

Subscribe to our newsletter

Topics of interest

The data provided will be treated by iAgua Conocimiento, SL for the purpose of sending emails with updated information and occasionally on products and / or services of interest. For this we need you to check the following box to grant your consent. Remember that at any time you can exercise your rights of access, rectification and elimination of this data. You can consult all the additional and detailed information about Data Protection.

Featured news