The former Dutch deputy ambassador to Tirana, Hans Teunissen, in a letter addressed to Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama expressed the concerns of several European NGOs over the river Vjosa and appealed to the government for its designation as a National Park.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany international NGOs such as IUCN, Euro Natur, WWF and European Wilderness Association which are also active in Albania have already expressed their concern about your country\u2019s reputation with regard to the protection and preservation of valuable nature,\u201d wrote Teunissen.<\/p>\n
In his letter, Teunissen mentions that in spite of earlier proclamations of \u201cunwavering support\u201d to establish Vjosa as a National Park, there are doubts that the status might be downgraded to a \u201cprotected area\u201d due to commercial interests.<\/p>\n
He argued that such a decision would allow the construction of dams that would destroy the \u201cvirgin and the vulnerable state of Vjosa\u201d and cause irreparable damages.<\/p>\n
Teunissen writes that downgrading the status to a \u201cprotected area\u201d only<\/p>\n
Furthermore, the former deputy ambassador mentions that trustworthiness is one of the most important factors for a politician, and \u201csticking to\u201d earlier promises on Vjosa would mean earning the support and respect of the citizens.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would guess that the Albanian people would like you to stick with your earlier promise on Vjosa National Park. I can assure you that nature lovers all over Europe would applaud the decision to create a Vjosa National Park, thus protecting it from destruction by commercial interests\u201d added the diplomat.<\/p>\n
At the end of his letter, speaking on \u201cbehalf of European nature-lovers\u201d and several environmental NGOs, Teunissen also recalled the moment when the Berisha government lost the elections after a bitter electoral race.<\/p>\n
All Albanians were hopeful that the change in government would lead to an end of the ingrained corruption. It is up to you to prove them right\u201d, urged the Dutch diplomat.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The former Dutch deputy ambassador to Tirana, Hans Teunissen, in a letter addressed to Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama expressed the concerns of several European NGOs over the river Vjosa and appealed to the government for its designation as a National Park. \u201cMany international NGOs such as IUCN, Euro Natur, WWF and European Wilderness Association […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":10282,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[153],"tags":[150,151],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n