As of: March 9, 2024, 8:43 a.m
By: Bettina Menzel
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Mountains in the Caucasus (symbolic image).
© IMAGO/masyura/Pond5 Images
A new ski resort in Russia is expected to attract 300,000 tourists a year.
But it lies in the middle of an almost untouched ecosystem with UNESCO World Heritage status.
Lagonaki – The autonomous Russian republic of Adygea is located southeast of the Russian city of Krasnodar and is roughly the size of South Tyrol.
The Eurasian high mountains of the Caucasus run there, which are still relatively untouched by human influences.
There is also a nature reserve in Adygea.
This area has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1999.
Last year, UNESCO named 27 new World Heritage sites.
Now, however, a luxury ski area is to be built on the Lagonaki plateau in the middle of untouched nature - UNESCO is horrified.
Nature reserve in danger: UNESCO concerned about plans for ski resort in the West Caucasus World Heritage area
The Western Caucasus has a remarkable diversity of geology, ecosystems and species, UNESCO said in 1999 as justification for including the region on the list of world heritage sites.
“Together with the Jungfrau-Komi World Heritage Site, it is the only large mountain area in Europe that has not experienced any significant human influence.” But that could soon be over: In a letter to UNESCO in March 2021, the region specified that proposals for the Development of a ski resort on the Lagonaki Plateau would be examined.
The proposed location would therefore be partly within the biosphere reserve.
The project will be built on an area of more than 1,600 hectares, Russian Deputy Minister of Tourism Dmitry Chernyshenko said last year.
The aim is to create a “tourist flow of more than 300,000 people per year and 650 new jobs” and attract investments of 30 billion rubles (around 300 million euros), said the minister.
The “eco-resort” plans to open its doors next year, as the
Moscow Times
reported.
37 kilometers of ski slopes and 642 hotel rooms are scheduled to be completed by 2030.
The World Heritage Committee (WHC), in a 2023 report, reiterated “deep concerns that the construction of the Lagonaki Mountain Resort remains under consideration.”
Caucasus
The Eurasian high mountain range of the Caucasus is around 1,100 kilometers long.
The mountain range stretches on the border between Europe and Asia between the Black and Caspian Seas and runs through the countries of Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Russia, among others.
Activists are fighting to preserve the untouched nature in Lagonaki
Activists have been campaigning for a halt to the plans in Lagonaki for years.
“This area is home to endemic plant and animal species that only occur here,” commented an activist from the organization “Lagonki Live” in a post on Instagram.
If the plans are implemented, “the unique natural ecosystems that are part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site will be completely destroyed and lose their conservation value,” the appeal continued.
At the beginning of this year, the organization also launched a campaign that addressed politicians directly.
The activists provided text templates that citizens could use to call on State Duma deputies and other decision-makers to end the plans.
“How is it possible to give away billions of state funds for the benefit of a small group of officials and business people in such a difficult time?” the campaign text said, among other things.
“What do all these discussions about the fatherland and eternal values mean when, against the background of a very difficult situation in the country, there is a fantastic and irresponsible waste of state money?” ask the activists critically.
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Scientists even wrote an open letter directly to Russian President Vladimir Putin and called for the Lagonaki project to be stopped.
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