Butrinti National Park

Butrint is located in the southwest corner of Albania, some 12 km south of Saranda city. It borders Greece to the South and the Ionian Sea to the West. The Key Biodiversity Area of Butrinti in Albania has the status “National Park”. The National Park of Butrinti has been firstly proclaimed by a Decision of Council of Ministers (DCM), date 02.03.2000, based on the law for “Protection of Cultural Heritage”, with a total surface of 25 square kilometers including the antique city of Butrinti, a part of Butrinti Lake, the Bufi Lake, the channel of Vivari and the surrounding wetlands, as well as the hills covered by forest trees and shrubs. By DCM, date 31.10.2002, the wetland complex of Butrinti has been proclaimed Ramsar Zone (13500 ha). For its unique and outstanding cultural values, Butrint was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1992. Butrint has been identified as one of the sites of particular cultural and environmental values in the Mediterranean region. The importance of Butrint wetland for waterbirds has been identified earlier in the past, although the reclamation work conducted in the early ’60s of the past century did show to have severely impacted the ecological balance of the Butrint lagoon and its adjacent wetland habitats. Butrint NP has been proposed as ASCI (Area of Special Conservation Interest) and included in the EMERALD sites of Albania (2011).

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