"Either nature or development"/ Rama: Protected areas are not protected through imaginary revolution

2026-06-07 11:19:00, Politikë CNA

"Either nature or development"/ Rama: Protected areas are not

Prime Minister Edi Rama reacted again this Sunday regarding the Zvërnec issue.

Through a post on social media, Rama states that the protected areas in the country will not save the imaginary revolution of citizens, while the concept for this area aims to grow the economy through sustainable tourism development.

"What about the Mountain Package? Shouldn't the Flamingos of the Boulevard or even those who have inherited lands in mountainous Albania enjoy their property by developing an agrotourism, an agroprocessing workshop, a farm?!"

Today, they do not receive a certificate with the 7501, because they divided the land according to the old borders and have never accepted the 7501, but without a certificate they cannot receive permits, subsidies from the state, financing from EU funds, or loans from banks.

Meanwhile, the Mountains Package, which is a solution shaped over years that has their support and is attracting thousands of emigrants to invest in their land, closes the legal gap, paves the way for the introduction of emigrant savings into mountainous Albania, and introduces the mountains into our economy through sustainable tourism development.

Ah, the protected areas, the nature, yes, the nature, the trees and the eagles that the imaginary revolution will save, by canceling the Mountains Package.

What about Austria?

When talking about development in protected areas, it often feels like the choice is a hard one:

Or nature. Or development.

In fact, protected areas are divided into different categories and have different levels of protection, from category I where construction is totally excluded to, for example, category V, as in the peninsular part of Zvërnec, where since the 2017 law it is clear that construction can be carried out under certain conditions.

The Austrian Alps are among the most protected and beautiful landscapes in Europe. Within and around the protected areas along them are hundreds of alpine villages, hotels, resorts, cable cars, ski resorts, hiking trails and modern infrastructure that attract millions of visitors every year.

Regions like Tyrol or destinations like Kitzbühel have long since become global brands of mountain tourism.

However, no one can ever say that Austria sacrificed the Alps for tourism. On the contrary. Austria built tourism for the Alps.

Those wise people understood early on that the landscape was not an obstacle to development, but rather the very foundation of development.

So the Austrian model was never: "Don't build anything."

But it was:

“Build carefully.

Build with quality.

Build where you need to.

Protect what is irreplaceable.”

Today, tourism generates billions of euros each year for the Austrian economy and supports hundreds of thousands of jobs, while Austria remains one of the countries with the highest standards of nature protection in Europe.

The question is not whether nature and development can coexist.

The question is whether we have the vision, knowledge, and discipline to make them allies of each other, increasing the country's environmental sustainability and the Albanian economy thanks to high-income, quality tourism.

Because when nature is treated as a country's greatest asset, it is not protected by isolating it from the economy, but by turning it into the heart of the economy.

Therefore, I repeat:

THE FOOL WHO HAS HOLDED ALBANIA HOSTAGE FOR 100 YEARS WILL NOT BE ABLE TO STOP HIM FROM CONTINUING THE PATH HE HAS STARTED TO ENTER THIS COUNTRY INTO THE WORLD TOURISM CHAMPIONS LEAGUE,' Rama writes./CNA