Hydropower as a climate saviour? A myth long outdated
River valleys are fertile habitats for humans and animals. Destroying them – to generate supposedly climate-friendly hydropower – has nothing to do with climate protection. If the Renewable Energy Directive recognises this, it will send an important signal for nature conservation throughout Europe.
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Airport construction in Albania threatens to destroy important wetland area
++ Albanian government planning to build airport in Narta Lagoon ++ Possible revision to boundary of Vjosa-Narta protected area ++ 2nd February is World Wetlands Day ++
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Major blow to Bosnia hydropower project as Germany’s KfW drops financing plans
German development bank KfW has today confirmed that it has dropped plans to finance the controversial Janjići hydropower plant on the river Bosna in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
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The Albanian village of Kutë goes solar
After a fund-raising campaign, solar panels are being fitted on the roofs of public buildings in the village of Kutë on the Vjosa river. They have been installed as an explicit alternative to hydro power in the supply of electricity.
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Bern Convention targets crimes against nature
Dams, power plants, airports: numerous complaints from nature conservation organizations against destructive projects in the Balkans
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Award for Slovenian river conservationist
The biologist Andreja Slameršek was awarded the Wolfgang Staab Nature Conservation Prize on 11th November, a recognition of her tireless campaigning against hydroelectric projects on the Mur and Sava rivers. The supreme administrative court in Slovenia has meanwhile ruled in favour of the river conservationists in the Mokrice case.
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Still a long way to go for Western Balkan states
EU Commission presents country reports on accession candidates
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Demand: EIB has to improve environmental and social standards
The European Investment Bank has financed a series of damaging hydropower projects since 2010 which underline the need to tighten its environmental and social standards, according to a new report published today by CEE Bankwatch Network and EuroNatur.
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Two studies for the restoration of the Sava River and its floodplain published
Two brand-new studies for the revitalization of the Sava River and its floodplain have been published presented to key stakeholders from 19 to 22 September as part of the Sava Parks II - Freedom for Sava project.
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Goldman Environmental Prize for the “Brave Women of Kruščica”
++ River defenders from Bosnia and Herzegovina win the Goldman Environmental Prize ++ For the second time in the past three years an activist has has received this prestigious award for campaigning against hydro power in the Balkans ++
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