![]() ![]() It was slated for a massive hydroelectric project, which was halted in part due to the findings of Scientists for Balkan Rivers. The Vjosa River in Albania is one of the last free-flowing, undammed rivers in Europe. Save the Blue Heart of Europe has managed multiple science weeks so far, the most recent of which was this summer on the Neretva River in Bosnia-Herzegovina, and one of the most successful of which, on the Vjosa River in Albania, factored into a successful campaign to have the site of a massive dam proposal declared as a national park instead. Eichelmann is the founder and CEO of Austria-based NGO Riverwatch, as well as the coordinator of the Save the Blue Heart of Europe campaign, an initiative that aims to better understand the impressive variety of life that depends on the rivers of the Balkan Peninsula, and to protect those rivers from being dammed. Ulrich Eichelmann is an ecologist and conservationist who has spent the past three decades working to protect and restore Europe’s rivers. They’ve documented great biological richness and also identified species new to science, a heritage that looks likely to protect these rivers from flow-altering energy projects. So Riverwatch partnered with EuroNatur to launch Scientists for Balkan Rivers, a corps of researchers from around Europe that rapidly assesses the biological diversity at stake - from mollusks to mammals, bugs and birds - if the Europe’s last free-flowing rivers disappear under reservoirs. ![]() “It might be the highest density of trout species on Earth,” says podcast guest Ulrich Eichelmann of Balkan countries’ riverine legacy, which has become threatened by a tsunami of hydroelectric dam proposals in recent years: 3,200 mostly small hydropower plants are proposed to be built in the next few years, his organization Riverwatch estimates. “It might be the highest density of trout species on Earth,” podcast guest Ulrich Eichelmann says of these rivers, which also host a wealth of bugs, bats, birds and beauty - plus a deep cultural heritage.A proposal to dam one of the last free-flowing rivers in Europe was halted on the basis of one such survey, in addition to much conventional activism, and the group has since turned its focus to other threatened rivers in the region. ![]() A corps of scientists and conservationists has used such surveys to prove that the rush to build thousands of new hydroelectric dams in southern Europe threatens to drown a rich heritage, with impressive results.Rapid biological surveys are a well-known way to establish the richness of an ecosystem and advocate for its conservation. ![]()
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