News

A major court victory has been won by the Brave Women of Kruščica, a group of activists protecting their river from the threat of dam construction. The competent court in BiH this week ruled that the environmental permit for dam construction should be annulled immediately, meaning that any further construction work on the proposed dam is illegal.

Once again, Blue Heart partner Center for Environment and the entire Coalition for the River Sana gathered at the source of the river and protested against the destruction of the river. The blame goes to the Austrian-German Kelag company, which were responsible for building the horrifically destructive Medna powerplant.

Between April 17th and May 6th, eleven scientists from Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Albania went on an expedition to collect data on biodiversity as well as ecosystem functions for the entire Vjosa river network. With great effort, 300 river kilometers were sampled by use of the most state-of-the-art methods and equipment. During this expedition – led by Dr. Gabriel Singer of the Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries in Berlin – the Vjosa’s exceptional value was confirmed once more:

So what the hell is water? Is it rare or common, generous or dangerous? Is it OK to drink water-intensive sodas and wear water-filled jeans? Is it important that our rivers are still clean enough to swim in? Should oil pipelines cross freshwater streams? Should rivers be used as hydroelectric generators?