Europe’s oldest lake faces destruction to make way for tourists
Found on New Scientist on Saturday, 19 December 2015
They call it Europe’s Galapagos. Lake Ohrid in Macedonia is the most biodiverse lake of its size in the world, home to more than 350 species found nowhere else and listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site based on its natural value. It is also Europe’s oldest lake, having survived for more than a million years.
From April, British holidaymakers can take a cheap flight with Wizz Air from Luton to holiday in Ohrid. To meet their needs, the lake’s most critical ecosystem is set to be concreted over to make space for apartments and a marina.
Last year Ohrid’s mayor, Nikola Bakraceski, unveiled plans to drain the entire 75-hectare marsh and replace it with luxury housing and a marina.
For a fistful of dollars a mayor comes up with the plan to destroy an ecosystem which survived for a million years, and should survive for another million years, when humans are long forgotten.