Winning Europe's First Wild River National Park

EcoAlbania, founded in 2014 by biologists at the University of Tirana, campaigned for over ten years — through research, legal action and public pressure — against a wave of hydropower dams planned on the Vjosa, one of Europe's last major undammed rivers. That advocacy, carried out alongside partners like Riverwatch and EuroNatur under the 'Save the Blue Heart of Europe' campaign, helped persuade Albania's government to create the Vjosa Wild River National Park in March 2023, protecting the river, its banks and three tributaries. EcoAlbania continues to monitor the Vjosa's ecology and push back against remaining development threats in the watershed.