The final conference of the international scientific project "Inspiring rural heritage: Sustainable practices to protect and conserve upland landscapes and memories - IRIS"
The final conference of the international scientific project "Inspiring rural heritage: Sustainable practices to protect and conserve upland landscapes and memories - IRIS" was held in Kolašin, 19-22nd of October 2023. Project participants were the Universities of Genoa (Italy), Granada (Spain), Durham (Great Britain) and Toulouse (France), as well as the French National Council for Scientific Research. The University of Montenegro participated in the project at the invitation of the French partner, through the inclusion of a multidisciplinary team with researchers from the Historical Institute, the Biotechnical Faculty and the Faculty of Law, who presented the results of their research conducted during this project. Dr. Ivan Laković (Historical Institute) spoke about traditional transhumance in the Sinjajevina region, Dr. Milan Marković and Dr. Jelena Lazarević (Biotechnical Faculty) presented statistical parameters related to the domain of rural development and trends in livestock farming in this area, as well as the results of research on condition, quality and utilization of the Sinjajevina pastures in the fields of the selected katuns, while Milana Rankovic, M.Sc. (Faculty of Law) described the development of the legal framework within which the life was organized in the Montenegrin katuns.
The conference included a two-day plenary segment, in which the results of the research of European mountain areas with a communal form of use were presented. There were experiences compared and the problems indicated, as well as dangers and perspectives that loom and open up upon this field. Also, a field visit to part of the Sinjajevina katuns was organized, so that colleagues from abroad were introduced to a part of the one of the largest homogeneous pasture areas in Europe and its natural and cultural-historical heritage. Representatives of the Ministry of Culture of Montenegro, municipalities of Žabljak, Mojkovac and Kolašin, the Environmental Protection Agency, the NGO sector and other relevant and interested decision-makers also took part in the conference.