++ New Hope for Balkan Rivers: EBRD withdraws from financing hydropower project in Mavrovo National Park, Macedonia ++ Success for campaign in Macedonia - this is the second decision against damming in the park, since the World Bank has refused to finance Lukovo Pole project last year. Read more...

++ Scientists’ analysis sent to Prime Minister Edi Rama ++ Shortly before Christmas, the Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama and other government representatives got mail from renowned scientists from Austria and Germany.

++ Dam project on Europe’s last wild river was intended to be realised without adequate environmental assessment or civic participation ++ Legal precedent for rule of law in Albania ++ Tirana, Vienna, December 2, 2016. The planned destruction of the Vjosa, one of Europe’s last big wild rivers, is now being challenged in court.

Hydropower is not green, it is not even carbon neutral, as Washington State University researchers now confirm. “In their paper to be published next week in BioScience, the researchers reported that reservoirs of all sorts are important sources of the potent greenhouse-gas methane. The gas is produced by decomposing organic material underwater,” so the Seattle Times report...

For everyone who missed the Planet E program “Madness Hydropower – River destruction in the Balkans” on ZDF yesterday – you can now watch it online! Also, don’t miss out on the interviews with Ulrich Eichelmann (Riverwatch CEO) and Ulrike Lunacek (Vice President of the EU Parliament) that weren’t featured in the program...

On the occasion of the World Rivers Day, the ZDF will air a documentary about the Balkan Rivers and the dam craze that puts them at risk on Sunday, September 25 at 16:30. This episode of the ZDF “planet e” series will depict the beauty of these rivers as well as the opposition against the imminent river regulations and damming.

++ Scientists demand 3-year construction freeze for hydropower plants on the Vjosa in Albania ++ Environmental assessment according to EU standards urgently required ++ Memorandum submitted to Prime Minister Edi Rama ++ World Rivers Day on September 25 ++

Hydropower is a phase-out model. Wind and solar – environmentally, socially as well as economically much sounder – are the energy sources of the present and future. Why is then, that the World Bank seems to ignore the global shift in the renewable energy sector and instead continues to advocate for multi-billion dollar dam projects...

The Vjosa is now getting attention in American media, as interest for this last big wild river of Europe increases around the world. Recently, an article was published in the TIME magazine, titled "Europe’s Last Wild River Is About to Get Dammed". Another article in the Scientific American – “Europe's Last Wild Rivers Could Soon Drown” – also features a short video.

“If you climb it, they will come, and with them ecotourism dollars that could give the people of this area a much preferred alternative to the damming of their river.” Within the context of the Balkan Rivers Tour, a Patagonia climbing team explored climbing possibilities in Albania. They were awed by what they found...