More than 300 residents of the Nikaj-Mërtur region in Tropojë, together with environmental activists, protest against a project to construct three dams/barriers on the Mërturi River.

The EU Parliament today adopted its annual report on Albania, sending one of its strongest messages yet on the importance of protecting nature, upholding environmental safeguards and ensuring that EU standards are respected throughout the accession process.

Serious environmental damage is currently taking place in the Vjosa-Narta protected area in Albania. Since the end of April, bulldozers and excavators have been operating in the core area of the protected landscape, clearing coastal forests, removing dunes and cutting new access roads through previously untouched habitats.

As we celebrate the third anniversary of the Vjosa Wild River National Park, a study released today warns that the "Wild River" is facing an invisible crisis: massive water abstraction.

In September 2025, Vjosa River was officially recognised as a UNESCO "Man and the Biosphere" (MAB) Reserve, during the World Congress of Biosphere Reserves in China. While it brings international visibility, it also comes with expectations for rigorous follow-up and effective management.

National Park status should safeguard the Vjosa. Ask the Albanian government to continue their commitment to this wild place, and ensure the Vjosa Wild River National Park is protected today, tomorrow, and forever. 

Two years after its landmark designation in March 2023 as Europe’s first Wild River National Park, the Vjosa River is under continuous pressure from extractive industries, infrastructure expansion, and mismanaged development, putting the park’s ecological integrity and its global conservation value at risk.

On 21 April 2025, Besjana Guri and Olsi Nika received the renowned 2025 Goldman Environmental Prize. The prize is endowed with 200,000 USD.  They were given the prize for their indispensable commitment to igniting a social movement to establish the Vjosa Wild River National Park, the first of its kind in Europe.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature released an assessment report about the controversial water abstraction project from the Shushica River. The report concluded that the proposed project would severely impact the national park’s biodiversity and fail to comply with IUCN national park standards.

On 11 December 2024, a court in Tirana finally ended the threat of hydropower plants on the Shushica - one of the main tributaries of the Vjosa and part of the Vjosa Wild River National Park.