In the heart of Montenegro, Sinjajevina represents one of the largest mountain pastures in Europe, covering nearly 5% of the country’s total territory. This area is largely governed as a common good, while smaller privately owned sections are managed in accordance with customary rules and traditional practices. Sinjajevina has been used for livestock herding for millennia, and over the past two centuries it has been jointly managed by as many as eight traditional Montenegrin tribes, contributing to the preservation and sustainability of the rich and rare flora and fauna characteristic of this region.

This natural value has been recognized at both national and international levels through Sinjajevina’s status as part of the Tara River Canyon Biosphere Reserve, an Emerald Site under the Bern Convention, an Important Plant Area, a proposed Regional Nature Park, and a proposed site within the EU Natura 2000 network.

However, in 2019, the traditional governance system, as well as the valuable biocultural diversity of this territory, were completely disregarded when Sinjajevina was declared a NATO military training ground by government decision. Soon afterward, multiple launches and explosions damaged and polluted the area, while traditional users were at times denied access to the territory. The Government of Montenegro adopted this decision without conducting environmental, economic, or health impact assessments, while also ignoring nearly 6,000 citizen signatures collected in a short period to prevent NATO forces from entering the area.

At that moment, it seemed that the territory had been lost to destructive military purposes. However, the persistent, informed, and creative resistance of its traditional custodians surprised state institutions, NATO officials, and the wider public alike. A spontaneous alliance formed among local communities, activists, the academic sector, and domestic and international non-governmental organizations, which for years resisted the militarization of the territory through diverse and innovative means.

The resistance culminated in the physical occupation of the territory during the harsh autumn and early winter of 2020. As a result, on December 5, 2020, the use of Sinjajevina as a military training ground was temporarily suspended. This practice was not resumed in subsequent years, until in July 2025 the Government of Montenegro, led by Prime Minister Milojko Spajić, adopted a final and formal decision to permanently abolish the military training ground.

On that occasion, the Government expressed its readiness to orient Sinjajevina toward environmental protection, while respecting the needs and aspirations of local communities. The alliance that had operated from the outset under the name “Save Sinjajevina” enthusiastically and gratefully welcomed this 2025 decision — as a key step in protecting one of Europe’s most significant pastures, shaped and preserved by generations of Montenegrin communities.

Building on the experience gained, the Save Sinjajevina movement, through this declaration, reaffirms the multiple values of Sinjajevina as its own territory of life and expresses its determination to continue acting as its custodian — managing, stewarding, and safeguarding this area for the benefit of both nature and people.

Relying on the capacities, experience, and steadfast commitment of the plateau’s traditional tribes and communities, local and national civil society organizations, the academic community, political actors, and international partners who shaped this movement, Save Sinjajevina commits to continuing traditional stewardship of the territory, while actively working to strengthen and permanently secure it for future generations.

By assuming responsibility for Sinjajevina as a territory of life — a community-conserved area — the movement aligns itself with internationally recognized frameworks such as the Programme of Work on Protected Areas of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD PoWPA), the recognition of the crucial role of community-based conservation, and the guidelines of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) on territories and areas conserved by Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (ICCAs).

In accordance with these internationally agreed principles, Save Sinjajevina will continue to bring together representatives of local tribes and brotherhoods, livestock associations, resident communities and families, scientists, non-governmental organizations, citizens, and state institutions, in order to strengthen the legitimacy, heritage, and legality of a participatory and inclusive custodianship-based governance model dedicated to the long-term vitality of Sinjajevina’s ecosystems, cultural heritage, and pastoral traditions.

Regarding the rules that should guide custodial governance of the territory, some of the key principles — open to further refinement through inclusive consultations — include protection from destructive activities such as:

• any form of military activity and militarization;

• infrastructure projects that degrade the environment, including inappropriate road construction and facilities, particularly for mass tourism;

• interventions in water resources that threaten ecosystems or pastoral livelihoods;

• unsustainable hunting and exploitation of wildlife;

• unsustainable intensive agriculture;

• mega wind farm projects proposed by some as a replacement for the military training ground, involving more than 170 wind turbines over 100 meters high, without environmental, social, economic, or public health impact assessments.

At the same time, Save Sinjajevina commits constructively to supporting and revitalizing traditional sustainable practices, including:

• seasonal grazing that contributes to biodiversity conservation, traditional landscapes, and ecological balance of mountain pastures;

• traditional food production systems and associated cultural practices;

• community-based tourism that is socially and environmentally sustainable;

• active intergenerational knowledge transfer and strengthening people’s emotional connection to the territory, in collaboration with scientific partners to improve adaptive management;

• promotion of custodianship and local governance models that reflect the multiple values of the territory of life, in which communities that have historically sustained Sinjajevina assume key responsibility for its present and future.

Although future arrangements may include forms of co-management with state institutions, Save Sinjajevina emphasizes that inclusive, community-led responsibility is the first and essential step, as well as the foundation for any later institutional recognition and investment.

This approach aligns with the global trend of recognizing the effectiveness, legitimacy, and legality of community-led governance in nature and cultural conservation. For this reason, leading international environmental and development organizations strongly promote and protect these systems, often referred to as Indigenous and Community Conserved Areas (ICCAs) or Territories of Life (CBD, IUCN, UNEP, UNDP).

Save Sinjajevina is ready and determined to promote this model as an example for present and future generations, in Montenegro and around the world. Through this declaration, a clear message is sent:

Save Sinjajevina is ready to assume and uphold the responsibility of guardians of the Sinjajevina territory of life.

This declaration represents an important precedent. We hope that the custodians of Sinjajevina will inspire other communities, in Montenegro and beyond, to defend their territories and claim the right to manage, steward, and protect them — for themselves and in their own name.

Signed on behalf of the entire organization by the Board of the Civic Initiative Save Sinjajevina, including Milan D. Sekulović, President of the Organization, Mileva Gara Jovanović and Petar Glomazić, Vice Presidents, as well as Novak Tomović, President of the Assembly of Save Sinjajevina.