So how can a resort be planned inside a protected area?

Transcript

1. This is a protected area on Albania's coast.
2. The government says there is no construction permit here.
3. Between the end of April and early June,
4. about 6 hectares of its vegetation disappeared.
5. European satellites photograph this coast every few days.
6. We measured 41 clear passes, from April to October.
7. The place is the coast north of the village of Zvërnec,
8. near the city of Vlorë: pine and dunes between a lagoon and the Adriatic Sea.
9. It has been protected since 2004.
10. Investors plan a luxury resort here.
11. Jared Kushner, Donald Trump's son-in-law, says he's a minority partner.
12. On 29 April, Albania's National Council for Territory and Water
13. gave the developer a permit for access routes,
14. to bring in equipment for an environmental study.
15. Four days earlier, the satellites showed almost no vegetation lost here.
16. By 15 May, about 2 hectares were gone.
17. That day, the environment agency ruled
18. that the project needs an in-depth environmental study.
19. The loss kept growing.
20. By 6 June, it covered about 6 hectares.
21. Since then, it has stayed about the same size.
22. A conservation group's early assessment counted more than 7 kilometres of new roads.
23. The government's own website now says the machinery
24. got there through an unauthorised action by the investors,
25. and that they removed it when asked.
26. It also says no work may be done here before the in-depth study is complete.
27. In June, a lawyer for the investors,
28. asked about the fence, said Albanian law had been strictly adhered to.
29. Our measurement can't show whether the work broke its permit.
30. So how can a resort be planned inside a protected area?
31. On the 2022 decree's map,
32. the clearing sits inside what was then the area's most protected zone.
33. In September 2024, the government re-declared the area with no zones at all,
34. and listed tourist accommodation among the things allowed inside.
35. Some limits stayed: breaking up natural habitats is still banned.
36. Earlier that year, parliament had changed the law,
37. so five-star resorts can go into a protected area
38. even where its own decree doesn't list them.
39. The in-depth study is still listed as pending.
40. The developer has to commission it.
41. Rama, the prime minister, says science will decide.
42. In June, the European Parliament asked Albania to repeal the 2024 amendments,
43. and to pause new permits and building in protected areas
44. until those changes are repealed and EU nature standards are met.
45. In July, Rama said the law would be adapted instead.
46. On 22 October, the satellites passed over again.
47. The clearing is still there.