UNESCO Warns North Macedonia Again on Heritage City’s Status

North Macedonia has done little to fix issues in the past year-and-a-half since UNESCO first threatened to reclassify the lakeside town of Ohrid as an "endangered heritage site", mainly citing persistent problems with unrestrained urbanisation, a draft report by the UN body made available on Monday said.

The lengthy draft, based on inspections done on the ground, notes a slew of old problems not being addressed but also some new threats to the historic town - one of only 28 sites across the world that UNESCO has named a world heritage site in both the culture and nature categories. It is expected to inform UNESCO on its final decision about Ohrid's status around June this year.

Among other problems, the report again pinpoints unrestrained construction in the town and its surroundings, the slow response of local and central authorities to illegal builds that have mushroomed even in protected areas and the continued destruction of nature and the eco system, in part caused by still non-functioning waste disposal facilities.

The document laments a lack of awareness among the local population, but also among the local authorities, about the need to preserve their heritage, noting the continued degrading of the unique architecture in Ohrid's old town with rooftop solar panels, the piling up of illegal waste in some areas and the installation of urban equipment that does not correspond with the look of the protected city core.

It also casts a critical eye on a fresh plan to reconstruct the lake front in the town, and on plans to build a marina in the Studencista marshland near the town, which among other things is a vital breathing ground for aquatic life.

UNESCO for the first time threatened to downwardly reclassify Ohrid in May 2019,...