A group of 30 scientists from four countries conducted studies in April this year over the Vjosa River in the Poà§emi hydropower area.
They discovered 300 species living in the area, including two previously unknown species of wildlife, a new species of fish and a special insect named the Isoperla vjosae.
The international scientists found 40 species that were previously unknown in Albania.
“We wrote a memorandum and asked for a moratorium to stop plans for dam construction over the Vjosa River for at least 3 years, until a detailed geological study of the bedding and flow of this river and its biodiversity is done. This memorandum was signed by several hundred international experts, the most important and most well-known researchers of ecology and rivers all over the world. Environmental assessment has been done in a very wrong way, because it does not show the true damages that will be caused by the construction of these dams in Pocem and Kalivac,” says Prof. Fritz Shiemer from the University of Vienna and coordinator of studies in Vjosa.
The international team of scientists stressed that Vjosa is a river of European importance in terms of biodiversity.
It is the habitat for many species of animals and plants, which are very rare or have completely disappeared in other rivers of Europe.
“If you erect dams in this river with large amounts of sediments, they will be filled with grit within a short time. These dams should be stopped until a thorough study is carried out because we have discovered that the inert of the river can fill the Poà§emi dam within 20-30 years,” said Dr. Christoph Hauer from the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna.
He added that in a short time all will be lost from the construction of the Poà§emi hydropower plant: the species will disappear, energy production will decrease, because within two decades the reservoir will be filled with sand.
If the hydropower plants on Vjosa, Poà§emi and Kalivaà§, will be built as planned, many of these living things will disappear as a result of radical change in biological conditions.
Currently, Poà§emi is blocked by the court after the residents’ complaint and Kalivac is in limbo as an investor pulled out.
However, the risk of Vjosa continues to remain high due to a dozen construction permits that have been issued.
Researchers believe that a comprehensive scientific research program is needed before deciding to issue permits for the construction of hydropower plants in Vjosa.
According to them, a national park would be much more valuable than a hydro power plant that could destroy everything.
The Administrative Court imposed a ban on the works for the Poà§emi power plant at the request of a community of residents of the Mallkastra area in southern Albania and the activation of several domestic and foreign environmental organizations.
According to the court, the construction of the Poà§emi Hydro Power Plant negatively affects the environment and life of the inhabitants of the village of Kut and the surrounding area and implementation of the project should not be done.
During the judicial investigation it was noted that the legal practice on the Environmental Impact Assessment of the project was not respected and the public exclusion from the mandatory legal processes of project counseling and discussion.
The government on July 2015 adopted a decision on the Poà§emi Hydroelectric Power Plant to accept a 35-year unconstrained concession from a Turkish company, awarding it 8-point bonus in the tender that was later developed.
Poà§emi Hydropower Plant is part of a technical program aimed at utilizing the Vjosa river cascade for electricity generation in Albania.
The Vjosa Cascade, according to the project prepared before 1990, allowed the construction of nine hydroelectric plants from the 350 meters above sea level where Vjosa enters the territory of Albania up to the 9 meters above sea level near Selenica in the Vlora region.
Another Hydropower Plant construction site on the River Vjosa, that of Kalivac in the district of Tepelena, has been abandoned by after problems faced by the company that had won the concession.
The non-governmental grouping of several environmental organizations in Albania, River Protectors, has demanded the adoption of a three-year moratorium on the development and implementation of hydropower projects across the country.
The group notes that in the 2002-2016 period, 183 concession agreements signed by Albanian governments have been identified for the construction of 524 hydropower plants.
According to the group, about 117 hydro plants are in the works — 43 are under construction and 364 hydropower plants are planned by the Ministry of Energy but have not yet begun to be built.
Alongside the risk of harming the environment in the way irreversible causing landslide, habitat and biodiversity erosion, changing the water flow regime and flooding, most of the hydropower plants are located in areas of high environmental and social sensitivity, in protected natural areas and in inhabited lands.
The construction of Hydro Power Plants have caused debate, controversy, conflict, protest, and indictment of damages. There were strong feedback from the residents on the construction of the Poà§emi Hydro Power Plant in the Vjosa River. Some HPPs in the National Park of Valbona River and the Shebenik National Park — Jablanica have also been strongly opposed by the communities of residents.
In a study on “Cases of water conflicts related to hydropower development in Albania” carried out by several active environmental organizations, there have been identified at least 18 cases of conflicts related to hydropower during for the period 2012-2016.
In the 18 identified cases are reported six victims closely linked to hydroelectric projects (three victims of work-related accidents, a victim of a HEC-built conflict, one wounded and one attempted murder).
The River Defenders climate study notes than “in none of the conflicting cases identified, the parties have failed to reach official cooperation agreements due to protests or controversies from local residents.
The transformation or acquisition of territory and ecosystems by new users (energy concession companies) have been displaced and removed the traditional right to use water and threatened different layers of society, says the study, adding that about 52% of respondents state that local communities / farmers and peasants are the most affected group.
“In 67% of cases, the reaction started after the machines had started digging in the countryside,” the study notes.
(This report was originally published by the Albanian Service of the Voice of America – VoA)
