+++ The Balkan rivers host 113 rare and protected fish species. If the hydropower development is carried out as planned, about 10 percent of all European river fish species will be endangered +++ The rivers in the Balkans constitute Europe’s fish sanctuary, according to a new study presented today by Riverwatch and EuroNatur.

Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard has written an article about hydropower that is meant to rip the green-bandage off this outdated and harmful technology. It has already been covered by several media, such as Huffington Post or Focus and is featured on Patagonia’s blog The Cleanest Line. Enjoy!

The new documentary “Blue Heart” follows our campaign and other, local stakeholders through the Balkans to document the crime committed on Europe’s last river jewels and on communities who live by them. Watch the trailer below an discover the Blue Heart in this story map.

This new short film by Much Better Adventures calls out international banks for funding dams in national parks and on Europe’s las wild river – the Vjosa in Albania. As construction companies move in on Europe’s last wild river, Adventures Not Dams highlights the irreversible damage this will have on the local environment, economy and communities along its banks.

Tell the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), European Investment Bank (EIB), and the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) they must halt their Balkan hydropower investments before the these river jewels are irreversibly destroyed. SIGN THIS PETITION!

How come that a destructive project like that is being approved within a protected area? How can it be that a project within a protected area even receives funding? How is it possible that the funding comes from a European public development bank, the EBRD? Read how that happens in this Bankwatch webstory...

+++ Impacts of hydropower projects for nature, people and coastal region to be calculated +++ The University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna (BOKU), together with the Polytechnic University of Tirana, have started an assessment of the sediment transport in the Vjosa river in Albania. They are measuring the amount of gravel, sand and fine sediments the river transports into the Mediterranean Sea each year.

The outdoor outfitter Patagonia is not only supporting our anti-dam campaign, but is also helping to demystify hydro as green and renewable source of energy in general. For this purpose, they have just launched the new website "The dam truth".

+++ Multilateral development banks have supported no fewer than 82 hydropower projects across southeast Europe, including in protected areas, according to a study by CEE Bankwatch Network released today +++

Despite all opposition, the hydropower project Medna on the Sana river in Bosnia and Herzegovina is about to be opened. This marks the beginning of the end of this extraordinary and valuable river. The destruction of the Sana – one of the last remaining rivers with healthy Huchen populations – is carried out by Austrian-German company Kelag. Our Blue Heart partners in BiH – Center for Environment – have been fighting this project from the start.