Sept 14,
2023. Posted by Balkan
Periscope - Hellas
Lake
Prespa, one of Europe's oldest lakes and home to more than 2,000 species of
fish, birds, mammals, and plants, is rapidly receding. The locals, who depend
on the lake for their livelihoods, fear what's to come.
A platform
that was once surrounded by the waters of Lake Prespa now stands on dry ground
near the village of Stenje, North Macedonia, on September 6.
Water levels at Lake Prespa, which straddles
the borders of North Macedonia, Greece, and Albania, are now more than 8 meters
lower than in the late 1970s. Locals say they are afraid of what is to come.
Water
levels at Lake Prespa, which straddles the borders of North Macedonia, Greece,
and Albania, are now more than 8 meters lower than in the late 1970s.
Locals say
they are afraid of what is to come.
Aleksandar
Ilievski jumps from a platform on to dry land near the village of Stenje. In
2019 he was able plunge into the waters Lake Prespa at the exact same spot.
"I
grew up in this village and we all came to jump from this platform in the
water. In 2018 we jumped a lot from it. We played with balls and everything but
now you can see the situation isn't very good. The water went away."
One of the
oldest freshwater ecological systems on the continent, Lake Prespa, has filled
this scenic valley in southeast Europe for between one and five million years,
according to experts.
Environmentalists
claim that inadequate precipitation, evaporation, and excessive irrigation are
the main causes of water loss.
A drone
photo shows the location of the former waterline, which is more than 1
kilometer away from the current waterline in Pretor on September 6.
NASA said
that satellite images from 2022 show that the lake had lost 7 percent of its
surface area and half of its volume between 1984 and 2020.
Fisherman
Vane Vasilevski, whose boat frequently runs aground on the lake, stands at the
previous year's waterline.
"There
is no rain, no winter, no snow, no rivers. Only one river is coming into the
lake. There is no [other] supply of water to the lake. This is a disaster, a
natural disaster," Vasilevski said.
Dragan
Arsovski, a biologist from the Skopje-based NGO Macedonian Geological Society,
said the lake's level has risen and fallen over the centuries and that nature
has survived. He said people living around the lake are not adapting to the new
situation.
A boat on
the receding shoreline of Lake Prespa
Vasilevski
works on his rowboat. The United Nations Development Program has warned that
some wildlife species at the lake are at risk of extinction due to the
destruction of their habitat through harmful farming practices, erosion, and
untreated waste.
The United
Nations Development Program has warned that some wildlife species at the lake
are at risk of extinction due to the destruction of their habitat through
harmful farming practices, erosion, and untreated waste.
In a region where financial troubles, aging
infrastructure, and declining fertility rates continue to be the most pressing
problems, environmental issues are frequently pushed to the bottom of the list
of government priorities.
In a region
where financial troubles, aging infrastructure, and declining fertility rates
continue to be the most pressing problems, environmental issues are frequently
pushed to the bottom of the list of government priorities.
Concerned
local governments have been taking water samples to check for the presence of
pesticides and chemicals. The results show that the water quality is getting
much worse in some key areas.
RFErl
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