Dam Tsunami to Threaten Balkan Rivers
As a contribution to this year’s UN World Water Day (22.3.) on the topic of “Water and Energy”, EuroNatur and Riverwatch draw attention to the impending destruction of rivers on the Balkan Peninsula. Disguised as green sources of energy, more than 570 hydropower plants are planned to be built between Slovenia and Albania.
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National Geographic reports on Albania’s ban on hunting
Recently, Albania decided to ban hunting throughout the whole country for two years. The government wants to take advantage of this period in order to better protect migratory birds and other wildlife against poaching.This landmark decision was to a considerable extent inspired by an article by bestselling author Jonathan Franzen published in National Geographic.
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Bulgaria’s building boom threatens Nature Park
Strandzha Natural Park on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast faces irreversible impacts by huge construction projects, threatening the unique natural treasures of this exceptional part of the Balkan Green Belt.
More ...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.
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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.
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‘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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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