Public Project
Rivers Unite, Dams Divide
Many people associate Bosnia & Herzegovina with images from the 1990s civil war, which saw ethnic Serbs, Croats and Bosniaks engaged in brutal conflict, stoked by the spread of nationalism during the breakup of Yugoslavia. While tensions between these groups have flared over the centuries, there have also been many things that they shared, and that united them. One of these, is rivers, which have always played an important role in trade, agricultural cultivation, transport, and cultural heritage from music to literature.
Today, Bosnia is home to some of the last pristine river systems in Europe, hosting massive amounts of biodiversity, much of which has never been properly catalogued. As countries in the Balkans move towards greener forms of energy production, a boom in hydropower development is taking place, seeing over 3000 dams planned across the region, with little regard for the negative environmental or social consequences. Many rivers in Bosnia are slated to be carved up by these dams, while pollution from improper waste management and mining operations also pose a threat.
Faced with this, communities across Bosnia are fighting back. United by their shared connection to rivers and the environment, ordinary citizens are coming together across previously fractured ethnic lines, collaborating through protests, research expeditions, and lawsuits to protect the nature they all share.
This project was generously supported with a grant from the National Geographic Society.
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