News

Albania decides to ban hunting for two years

Albania decides to ban all hunting throughout the whole country for two years. This initiative was announced already two weeks ago by the Albanian Minister of the Environment Lefter Koka. Recently it was communicated to the public that the Parliament now passed this moratorium on hunting.

Spiegel magazine: Europe’s last wild rivers to be sold off

More than 570 dams are currently planned for the Balkans. Together with its partner Riverwatch, EuroNatur is campaigning against the destruction of Europe’s last wild rivers. This precarious situation is the subject of Philip Bethge’s article “Dams Threaten Europe's Last Wild Rivers” in the current issue of Spiegel magazine.

To the article: Dams Threaten Europe's Last Wild Rivers

Save the blue heart of Europe

One of Europe’s oldest national parks is in danger: two large hydropower plants are to be built in Macedonia’s Mavrovo National Park with the help of international funding. Both the World Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) plan to fund these projects. But now objections are being raised. 119 environmental scientists from around the world are protesting about the plans.

EuroNatur in search of the most beautiful photos of nature in Europe

Magic moments and breathtaking sceneries: this is already the 21st time that EuroNatur, the nature heritage foundation, is launching the nature photo competition "Nature treasures of Europe". We are looking forward to receiving the most beautiful and spectacular photos of animals, plants or landscapes in Europe.

‘Housing programme’ for the European Roller

In 2013 seven pairs of European Rollers bred in the Solana Ulcinj, Montenegro. Next year, the number of breeding pairs might rise significantly, as a donation campaign initiated by EuroNatur permitted to further improve the breeding conditions for this endangered bird species.

More territory for the lynx

Until recently it was just a suspicion, but now photos taken by a camera trap have delivered the long-awaited proof: the territory of the Balkan lynx, a species threatened with extinction, also includes the Pelister National Park in southern Macedonia.

Small Measures with Big Effect

Good news comes from one of the bird hunting hot spots on the Balkans. In the beginning of October, bird watchers counted ten times as many birds on the Svitava Lake as one year earlier. Svitava Lake is located in the nature and bird reserve Hutovo Blato, Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the Bosnian part of the Neretva Delta.

Karst poljes: sensitive landscapes in need of protection

The Karst poljes in the Dinaric Alps play a key role in the conservation of waders and waterfowl. Preserving these valuable biotopes was the subject of an international workshop in Bosnia-Herzegovina in early October, organised by EuroNatur and its partners Naše ptice and Naša baština.

More protection for the Mura, Drava and Danube

Last year UNESCO officially recognised floodplains in Hungary and Croatia that comprise the lion’s share of the planned Mura, Drava and Danube biosphere reserve. Now the Serbian government has followed suit: on 27 September it applied to UNESCO to have valuable river landscapes along the Croatian-Serbian border accepted for this trans-boundary protected area.

Innovative ideas for cross-border protected area

“The cornerstones for a tri-national protected area in the Šar Mountains have been laid – now this concept has to come to life”, says EuroNatur project manager Thies Geertz. To pick up ideas to implement in their own project, local stakeholders from Albania, Macedonia and Kosovo visited Goričko Nature Park in Slovenia at the borders to Austria and Hungary. The study tour was organised by EuroNatur.