Don’t look, don’t find: Buk Bijela’s ‘environmental impact assessment’
March 2, 2026
Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Upper Drina hydropower scheme would turn 30 kilometres of this iconic river into stagnant reservoirs and cut a key Danube Salmon habitat into pieces. Its largest dam would be the 118-megawatt Buk Bijela, first proposed in the 1970s but repeatedly scuppered due to its impact on Montenegro’s Tara Canyon. Now a new environmental assessment is out for public consultation, but it’s being more than economical with the truth.
Albania’s Skavica dam can’t get off the ground – time to finally cancel it!
November 24, 2025
The highly damaging hydropower project could hardly have had stronger political support at its inception, with the country’s parliament passing a special law in 2021 to appoint U.S. construction giant Bechtel as the main contractor. But four years later, the project has stagnated, with no environmental permit and no financing.
Montenegro’s stop-start spatial plan set to greenlight harmful hydro projects
June 24, 2025
Montenegro is touted as the lead EU accession candidate these days, but it’s unfortunately far from ready. The country’s hotly debated new national spatial plan is a case in point, plagued by delays, legal breaches, opacity and all-round low quality.
Activists say Bosnian dam threatens river life and rafters
June 26, 2024
KONJIC, Bosnia, June 25 (Reuters) – Environmental activist Lejla Kusturica stood on the banks of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Neretva river, …
The Upper Horizons complex, Bosnia and Herzegovina
December 18, 2023
The Upper Horizons hydropower complex has been planned since the mid-20th century, and is planned to consist of three plants — Dabar, Nevesinje and Bileća — linked by a series of tunnels and channels. If completed, it would have a devastating impact on the karst ecosystems of eastern Herzegovina and beyond.
Skavica mega dam: Albanian court to scrutinise special law for U.S. contractor Bechtel
September 21, 2023
Nature conservation and human rights organisations have secured an important first milestone in the fight against the planned 210 MW Skavica hydropower plant in the Albanian municipalities of Kukës and Dibër.
Bosnia and Herzegovina’s draft NECP: The good, the bad and the ugly
July 20, 2023
Bosnia and Herzegovina’s draft NECP finally looks to the future, plans no new fossil fuel power plants and significantly scales back unrealistic hydropower plans. But existing coal plants are to keep operating illegally and the draft is furtive about coal-to-biomass plans.
Upper Horizons hydropower scheme, Bosnia and Herzegovina
June 14, 2023
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.
Ulog and Upper Neretva hydropower plants, Bosnia and Herzegovina
June 14, 2023
A 35 MW hydropower plant was completed in 2024 on a pristine section of the Neretva river at Ulog. Seven more plants are also planned further upstream.
Skavica hydropower plant, Albania
April 28, 2023
Instead of increasing its energy security, Albania is pushing the construction of yet more hydropower. The Skavica project may flood several villages, displace thousands of people and bring the Balkan lynx to extinction
