One of Europe's largest lakes is the site of controversy as the Montenegro Resort Company begins work on a 600-guest resort amid a tourism boom.
According to the Guardian, conservationists in and around Montenegro's Lake Skadar national park are concerned about the potential consequences of a new 30-villa resort known as Porto Skadar Lake.
Currently under construction, the resort is expected to be completed by 2019.
The New Scientist reported the lake, which is the largest in southern Europe, is home to more than 280 species of bird and 50 fish species, including 18 of which are found nowhere else. What's more, the lake has earned a spot on the Ramsar Convention list of Wetlands of International Importance.
According to critics who spokes to the New Scientist, the resort will pollute the lake through "waste water produced by the villas, discharge from the spas and 30 swimming pools treated with chemicals."
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However, Montenegro Resort Company owner Lionel Sonig said that "with all the taxes that the resort will pay in the future, the national park will have money to protect the lake and the fauna and keep it cleaner than it is-we are not going to destroy what we are going to sell."
The ministry of sustainable development and tourism approved the resort project and told the New Scientist that it would only reconsider its approval if there was legitimate evidence to prove the resort is harming the lake.
The ministry plans to monitor the resort's impact on the lake moving forward.
In addition to the resort, conservationists are concerned about the potential impacts of multiple hydropower projects on the lake's major tributary.
Montenegro hosted nearly 1.5 million international visitors last year, a nearly seven percent rise from 2015.
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