biodiversity

With crude manipulations, the Bulgarian government is trying to push through a contended motorway route that would damage the country’s biodiversity hotspot in breach of EU law and international conventions. It expects that the European Commission will sit, watch and pay for it.

With new legislation, Bulgaria’s government is trying to limit inconvenient civil engagement in projects it deems strategic.

After a field visit to the Lake Ohrid in Macedonia, the UNESCO requested the Macedonian government to halt construction projects in the area, one of which is supported by the European Bank For Reconstruction and Development.

We are passing through the canyon of the river Vrbas, in north-west Bosnia-Herzegovina. I am looking through a car window, mouth wide open in awe. While I look up to the rocky, edgy peaks hundreds of meters above and down to the heavenly blue river, I am wondering why anyone would want to dam this river, flood the canyon and destroy its beauty.

Then again, rather than seeing beauty, hydropower companies see wasted water resources, or in the words of a Bosnian official “euros flowing away in vain.”

This week, activists from across the world are meeting in Tbilisi to share their experiences of resisting hydropower projects and the money that supports them.