Management of the protected areas
Lake Prespa (Monument of Nature) and Ezerani Nature Park are managed by the Municipality of Resen – Sector for Environment. Although they are two separate protected areas, they form one natural whole, and they are managed and planned together.
Manager
Municipality of Resen – Sector for Environment
Ploshtad Car Samoil 20, 7310 Resen, North Macedonia
Phone: +389 47 551 490
The management office of Ezerani Nature Park is in the old school building in the village of Ezerani, which is also an info centre.
Legal status
| Lake Prespa | Ezerani | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Monument of Nature (IUCN category III) | Nature Park (IUCN category IV) |
| Protected since | First protected by the 1977 Law on the protection of Ohrid, Prespa and Dojran lakes; declared Monument of Nature in April 2011 (Official Gazette 51/11) | Strict nature reserve from 1996; declared Nature Park on 17 February 2012 (Official Gazette 24/2012) |
| Area | 17,788 ha | 1,917 ha (1,066 ha land, 851 ha water) |
| Manager | Municipality of Resen | Municipality of Resen |
International status
- Ramsar site "Lake Prespa" – wetland of international importance since 1995 (18,920 ha)
- Important Bird Area MK006 "Lake Prespa" (BirdLife International, 2008)
- Ohrid–Prespa Transboundary Biosphere Reserve (UNESCO Man and the Biosphere), since 11 June 2014 – it includes the whole Monument of Nature
- Emerald site and potential Natura 2000 site
- Prespa Park – the trilateral agreement between North Macedonia, Albania and Greece, signed in 2011 and ratified in 2020
Protection zones
Each protected area is divided into zones with their own rules. The zones are shown on the Prespa GIS Portal.
| Zone | Lake Prespa | Ezerani |
|---|---|---|
| Strict protection | 2,810 ha (15.8%) | 873 ha (45.5%) |
| Active management | 3,065 ha (17.2%) | 868 ha (45.3%) |
| Sustainable use | 11,913 ha (67.0%) | 164 ha (8.6%) |
| Buffer zone | 1,276 ha | 200–500 m around the park |
What visitors may do in each zone is explained in the visitor rules.
Management plans and documents
The documents are in Macedonian.
- Draft Management Plan for the Lake Prespa Monument of Nature 2023–2032 (PDF, 11 MB)
- Management Plan for Ezerani Nature Park 2012–2021 (PDF, 2.4 MB)
- Visitor Programme for Ezerani Nature Park and the Lake Prespa Monument of Nature (PDF, 5.7 MB)
Monitoring
Water quality of the lake and its rivers is measured at monitoring points around the basin. Maps, monitoring points and measurements are published on the Prespa GIS Portal.