Patagonia have launched their biggest ever European campaign, “Save The Blue Heart of Europe”.
The campaign aims to raise global public awareness about the massive scale and long-term negative impact of the Balkan Rivers hydropower boom. These are the last wild rivers of Europe – and they deserve to be saved.
The Balkan peninsula, which includes 20,000 pristine, free flowing kilometers of rivers between Slovenia and Albania, has become a target for foreign developers and banks who plan to build 3,000 new hydropower dams and diversions throughout the region.
These are the last wild rivers of Europe: A global treasure that is largely unknown and is threatened by a wave of hydropower development that would devastate local communities and environments.
We have an opportunity to shed light on this beautiful, untouched region – the Blue Heart of Europe – and to support the local people and NGOs fighting to stop destructive dam construction on their rivers.
The myth of “clean, green” hydropower must be shattered, for the sake of these Balkans rivers and to protect our last wild rivers around the world, and the call to action of this films focuses on stopping the flow of money from banks that are pushing these destructive dams.
Patagonia has been fighting to protect wild places for over 40 years. Just this past year, it sued the Trump Administration for its illegal actions to try and eliminate the largest area of protected land in the US.
Billed as “green power initiatives,” the 3,000 dams and diversion projects* planned for this region would choke some rivers to death, flood valleys with thriving communities that have lived there for millennia, and divert massive amounts of water from other rivers, literally draining long stretches of the river dry. Given many of these projects involve small hydropower plants, we’re often talking about small amounts of the energy, far outweighed by the devastation brought to local communities and the environment.
The people in the Blue Heart of Europe don’t want these dams
These rivers are the life-blood of local villages, providing water to grow food and clean drinking water. Thus, the destruction brought by hydropower dams and diversions, is both an environmental issue and a human rights issue.
To sign the petition click here
