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The Ribnicka is one of many small rivers in the Mavrovo National Park. The construction of the power plants and the necessary infrastructure would have fatal consequences for the species-rich area in North Macedonia. © Front 21/42

++ NGOs, government representatives, experts, hydropower developers and the local community discuss challenges and solutions at an international conference on nature protection and hydropower projects in North Macedonia ++ Yesterday, the first ever national approach for defining no-go zones for hydropower projects was presented at a conference in North Macedonia.

The river Radika in the Mavrovo National Park would be affected by the water drainage and daily hydropeaking of the hydropower plant Boskov Most © Theresa Schiller/EuroNatur

++License granted by the Macedonian Ministry of Environment was illegal ++ Violation of national environmental law ++ Nature conservationists call upon financier EBRD to withdraw from project “Boskov Most” immediately++ According to an official statement by the Macedonian administrative court, plans for the large hydropower project Boskov Most in the Macedonian Mavrovo National Park are devoid of any legal basis.

Protest against projected hydropower plants inside Mavrovo National Park. Residents join the  Balkan Rivers Tour-Team © Jan Pirnat

++ Day 19 of the Balkan Rivers Tour: protest action against dam construction inside Mavrovo National Park ++ Hydropower projects endanger the last Balkan lynxes ++ On May 4, an international alliance of kayakers, anglers, residents and nature conservationists protested against the construction of hydropower plants inside Mavrovo National Park.

Save the Sana – stop KELAG: under this slogan, about 200 people protested at the Sana in Bosnia and Herzegovina today © Jan Pirnat

++ Day 8 of the Balkan Rivers Tour: 200 people protest against the dam construction at the Sana river in Bosnia and Herzegovina ++ Today, an international alliance of protested on the river Sana in Bosnia and Herzegovina against the hydropower plant “Medna”, which is currently under construction. The Sana is one of the last remaining rivers in Europe that host healthy populations of the Huchen.

The Mavrovo National Park is the last known area, in which the critically endangered Balkan Lynx is reproducing © Jörg Pukownik

 ++ EBRD and World Bank shall withdraw from projects – further assessment requested ++ For the time being, no hydropower projects are to be built in Mavrovo National Park in Macedonia. This was decided at the meeting of the Bern Convention Standing Committee – Europe’s most important nature convention – in Strasbourg last Friday (December 4, 2015)

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