The share of the urban population in Montenegro is sitting at 68.16 according to Statista’s 2022 data. The percentage has been slowly increasing compared to the previous years, however, the growth is not considered to be significant.

Naturally, even the moderate movement towards a more urbanized landscape comes with its environmental impact. Namely, air pollution, habitat destruction, and land degradation seem to be the most concerning outcomes of this process. The last negative effect, land degradation, is perhaps the most serious in the case of Montenegro and is especially evident in the country’s capital, Podgorica. There, a concerning trend of reduction in flatland productivity has emerged. One of the causes of this occurrence is the decrease in agricultural production. As the city becomes more urbanized, agriculturally productive use of neighboring areas becomes more difficult and less safe to execute, leading to similar cases of wasted space. 

Urbanized spaces can also reduce the possibilities for irrigation, further mitigating the development of agricultural production. This is evident in the area of the hills around Tuzi, as with the building of modern housing irrigation has become substantially more difficult. 

Productive use of land is further inhibited by small local fires, which are sadly seen quite regularly in the summertime. The hot weather and the geographical conditions of the city provide the possibility of fires starting on the unused land, further depleting its resources and continuing a vicious cycle of land not being used, leaving it vulnerable to fires. 

However, efforts to ensure better conditions and a more sustainable path to increased urbanization are being undertaken. The issues have already been noted, and the government is working on devising a program to increase land quality and protect other areas from suffering the same fate. In my opinion, such measures are needed in the outskirts of larger cities, as well as the cities that are upholding tourism, since urbanization is picking up the pace in those regions.

Sources:

1. Statista

2. “Environmental trends in Montenegro: Land degradation neutrality” by Mirko Knežević