Save the Blue Heart of Europe
The decimation of the wild Balkan rivers must stop. International banks have poured millions of euros into destructive hydropower development in the region, when the movement to free our rivers and remove dams is growing worldwide. More than 3,000 devastating hydropower projects are planned in the Balkans—nearly every river in the region will be impacted.
These dams and river-draining diversions will destroy Albania’s Vjosa—the largest and last untamed river in Europe—send the already threatened Danube salmon to extinction in Bosnia and Herzegovina, jeopardize the survival of the critically endangered Balkan lynx in Macedonia, displace culturally significant communities, and destroy freshwater resources throughout the region.
The world needs healthy rivers and lower impact energy options exist beyond hydropower. 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 last wild rivers in Europe are irreversibly destroyed.
A Bankwatch report from January 2018 verifies an estimated 727 million Euros of loans provided by international banks for the Balkan dams and diversions.