A clash is raging between nature and finance. On the one hand, the EU is striving to improve the deteriorating state of nature across Europe, with initiatives like the Biodiversity Strategy 2030 and the European Green Deal. On the other, massive amounts of public money continue to flow to infrastructure projects with devastating impacts on the natural world. Our work where finance meets the natural world advocates for adequate protection and restoration projects to ensure a green future for all.
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Rivers and communities
The countries of the Energy Community Treaty have diverse energy mixes, but hydropower has traditionally played a strong role in many of them. Albania is almost completely reliant on dams for its domestic electricity generation, followed by Georgia with an average of 80 per cent of electricity generated by hydropower and Montenegro with an average of 55 per cent.
EU funds and biodiversity
In May 2020, EU leaders committed to an ambitious Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, outlining the clear need to act on biodiversity loss and address the failing health of nature.
Discussions are now underway to agree on a new EU budget which will run from 2027 to 2034. This represents a golden opportunity to improve biodiversity spending to achieve the objectives of the biodiversity strategy in full.
As well as addressing the biodiversity crisis, strategically supporting nature through EU funds is also one of the most effective ways to tackle climate change, while providing jobs and improved health at the same time.
Yet, with many of the previous strategy’s objectives left unachieved, the pressure now mounts for this decade. Never before has there been so much potential – and urgency – to use EU funds and investments to address the biodiversity crisis.
Related projects
Emerald Network in the Western Balkans
Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia are required to establish a sufficient number of Emerald Network sites as signatories to the Bern Convention. However, since 2011, not a single new site has been proposed and many stunning rivers remain unprotected. The #EmeraldForRivers campaign aims to support governments in expanding the Emerald Network.
Turnu Măgurele – Nikopol Hydraulic Structures Assembly on the Danube river, Romania and Bulgaria
The project, if built, would not only devastate critical habitats, leading to the potential extinction of species such as the Danube sturgeons, but also displace local communities, disrupt existing investments, and violate several EU environmental directives.
Upper Horizons hydropower scheme, Bosnia and Herzegovina
A series of dams, diversion tunnels, hydropower plants and channels will completely change the natural hydrology of eastern Herzegovina and have unpredictable impacts on wetlands, rivers and underground karst.
Latest news
Locals oppose dam that is set to endanger critical fish habitat in Bosnia-Herzegovina
Blog entry | 30 May, 2017We 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
Read moreWho really benefits from Georgia’s Nenskra hydropower plant?
Blog entry | 4 May, 2017The Nenskra hydropower plant is implemented by two state-owned institutions and likely to be funded by several publicly owned development banks. Nonetheless, information about the contested project is being held back from public scrutiny.
Read moreRiver defenders gather forces in Georgia
Blog entry | 28 March, 2017This week, activists from across the world are meeting in Tbilisi to share their experiences of resisting hydropower projects and the money that supports them.
Read moreRelated publications
How to interact with development banks lending to hydropower projects in Central Asia: A toolkit for civil society activists
Toolkit | 3 February, 2025 | Download PDFThis toolkit is aimed primarily at civil society organisations in Central Asia tackling the construction of dams or other unsustainable water infrastructure.
Needs and priorities for biodiversity funding: A comparative analysis of Hungary and Poland
Briefing | 20 December, 2024 | Download PDFThis publication provides an overview of the priorities for national biodiversity needs in two countries – Hungary and Poland.
Harmful project documenting tool
Tool | 20 December, 2024 | Download PDFThis project documenting tool offers a practical, step-by-step approach to gathering information on problematic projects.