After ten years of dedicated action by local communities, environmentalists, scientists and artists to permanently protect the Vjosa River and its tributaries, today, the Albanian government took the historic step of signing a commitment to establish a Vjosa Wild River National Park. The Wild River National Park will protect the entire network of the Vjosa from the Greek border to the Adriatic Sea, including the free-flowing tributaries. This is something that has never been done before in Europe.

On April 30, many people met in the middle Kamp Valley near Rosenburg to explore it and to demand its protection. On the old dam of the Rosenburg power plant, activists with canoes mounted a large banner demanding the opening of the dam and the liberation of the river. In the video Ulrich Eichelmann, Oliver Lehmann, Doris Knecht, Stefan Glaser und Werner Gamerith explain why they advocate the preservation or restoration of the living, free-flowing Kamp river.

With a removalof the Rosenburg powerplant and further restoration downstream, the Kamp can once again become a paradise for many endangered species © Matthias Schickhofer

The aging Rosenburg power plant has long been a thorn in the side of conservationists. Now, according to plans of the energy company EVN, it is to be replaced by a larger power plant - with massive ecological consequences for the entire Kamp Valley. The "Kamp Days" therefore focus on the demand for a restoration and a complete removal of the existing powerplant.

For years we have been committed to the Kamp, one of the most important rivers in Austria. Therefore, we are happy to invite you to the Kamp Days on April 29-30! This free symposium with local and international experts in Rosenburg, Lower Austria will focus on the future of the Kamp, on river restoration, dam removal, and on the question of how livable the river and the valley should be in the future.

Several hydropower plants are planned on the upper Neretva © Amel Emric

At the urging of nature conservation organizations, the Standing Committee of the Bern Convention took another look at various projects in the Balkans at its most recent meeting. These include an airport in the middle of the Narta Lagoon in the Vjosa delta in Albania or a series of hydropower plants along the Neretva in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

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