Mavrovo National Park faces illegal logging and hydropower project

The environmental organization ‘Eco-Awareness’ has raised alarms regarding illegal activities and deforestation within Mavrovo National Park in North Macedonia. Activists report that new forest clearing is underway to facilitate the construction of a small hydropower plant on the Ribnička River.

According to Ana Čolović Leškova of ‘Eco-Awareness’, the park is currently operating in a ‘legal vacuum’ because it relies on outdated regulations from 1949. The failure to pass a new law officially declaring Mavrovo a National Park has resulted in a lack of transparency and the absence of necessary strategic management documents, such as forest ecosystem programs. This regulatory gap allows activities like logging to proceed without the oversight required by the Law on Nature Protection.

The hydropower project has previously faced criticism from the international scientific community, the Bern Convention, local residents, and Macedonian civil society organizations. ‘Eco-Awareness’ is calling on the Government and the Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning to urgently pass a new law to re-declare the park as a protected area to end these activities and ensure genuine environmental protection.