Following seven days of intensive fieldwork, an international team of over 70 scientists and students has officially concluded Una Science Week.

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.

163 experts call for an immediate halt to the hydropower project, citing an extremely flawed Environmental Impact Assessment and widespread irreversible ecological damage.

The first comparable regional assessment in over a decade documents the deterioration of Europe's last wild rivers, with pristine stretches dropping from 30% to 23% since 2012 - a staggering loss of 2,450 river kilometres. Albania’s rivers have deteriorated faster than those of any other Balkan country, largely due to hydropower and river regulation. 

A coalition of international and Bosnian scientists, together with leading environmental NGOs, reveal evidence linking the mass mortality of fish and other aquatic life on the affected stretch of the upper Neretva on September 12, 2025, to operational practices at the Ulog Hydropower Plant.

Blue Heart partner Polekol has submitted an official letter to the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, warning of escalating pressures that threaten to irreversibly damage one of Serbia's most valuable cultural and natural heritage sites: the Studenica River basin.

The Transboundary River Forum opened dialogue between institutions, civil society organisations, and, most importantly, gave a voice to local communities to actively participate in decision-making for the management of their rivers. At the heart of the Forum lay a shared commitment: the creation of Europe’s first Transboundary Wild River Park, Aoos/Vjosa.

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.

The Komarnica River will continue to flow freely through its eponymous canyon - at least for the time being. The project has been temporarily halted, but not cancelled.

The lack of required ecological flow from a hydropower dam in the Greek section of the Aoos/Vjosa River is endangering a unique and fragile ecosystem. A new scientific study underscores the urgent need to establish a minimum flow regime to restore the river’s ecological functions and safeguard its rich biodiversity.