Locals from Berovo and Pehchevo Municipalities Create a Joint Vision for the Maleshevo Mountains

Clean rivers and springs, preserved nature, living villages and slopes white with sheep, development in harmony with nature, for the needs of the inhabitants, visitors, investors – this is what the locals from Berovo and Pehchevo want for the future of their region,

In their opinion the Maleshevo Mountains should be an attractive destination for tourists, who will enjoy the expanded tourist offer, with adequate infrastructure along mountain trails, with mountain huts and homes for rest and recreation, as well as traditional food; intensified rural development and better standard for the local population. This is the conclusion from the workshop organized to create a common vision for the local population for the region of the Maleshevo Mountains, that was held on 10 December (Tuesday) 2019 in Hotel Manastir, Berovo.

The workshop was opened by Berovo Mayor Zvonko Pekevski, who pointed out that a lower category protected area can have only benefits for the local population, and will not impose any limitations.

The workshop was attended by representatives of the Municipality of Berovo and the Municipality of Pehchevo, as well as representatives of government and non-government organizations from the sector of forestry, agriculture, hunting, tourism and the business sector. The workshop was organized by the Macedonian Ecological Society as part of the activities to inform and engage all stakeholders from the region in the process of declaring Chengino Kale a protected area.

The Nature Conservation Programme in North Macedonia – phase 2, a project by the Swiss Development and Cooperation Agency, envisages the establishment of protected areas (PA) in the basin of the Bregalnica River. In the process of selecting priority areas for protection, in cooperation with the key parties and with a decision of the Eastern Planning Region (EPR), the Osogovo Mountains and Chengino Kale were selected as the areas most suitable for launching the proclamation process.