Balkan Rivers
Europe’s Last Free-Flowing Rivers
The Balkans is home to the continent’s last free-flowing rivers and hosts immense biodiversity. Endangered species such as the Danube salmon, Balkan lynx, and white-clawed crayfish call this region home.
This “Blue Heart of Europe” is at risk from an onslaught of thousands of small dams and diversions that fragment and dewater these last wild rivers, including by draining or enclosing them completely. In Serbia alone, some 800 dams are planned. Even worse, many of these dams are incentivized as “renewable energy.”
Advancing Ecocentric Law in the Balkans
To address this threat, ELC advances ecocentric law in the Balkans. We support community partners in submitting Bern Convention complaints to protect wild rivers and ecosystems, including fighting the Skavica Dam on the Drin River in Albania. We also support Earth Thrive and others in Serbia to advance the rights of rivers. Finally, we are co-leading a campaign for the EU to stop classifying new hydropower as “renewable energy,” as it permanently destroys freshwater ecosystems. More imminently, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, we seek a permanent ban on new small hydropower plants.
Collective Pressure & Transforming Laws in the EU
We have already had success. For example, due in part to collective pressure from civil society—including a Bern Convention complaint—Serbia terminated an enormous mine in the Jadar Valley (although talks recently reopened).
Now, we must continue to advance the Rights of Nature while transforming the law in the EU and specific Balkan nations to defend the rights of rivers to flow free from destructive hydrological facilities.
Partners
Earth Thrive and International Rivers
Additional resources on the Balkan Rivers
Header Photo: Unsplash / Boudewijn Boer; Middle River Photo: Unsplash / Mika Korhonen; Resources Photo: Unsplash / Nikola Johnny Mirkovic; Footer Photo: Unsplash / Milica Spasojevic