(crickets chirping) erene peeful mus) (she bleatin (gentlplainte music)

an in retie spking foreignanguag hunderrashing) (raipatterin (waterplashing (gtle plaiive musicontinue when youmagi a river it's bically t same as tree.

thmain tru is the ver, but yohave theranches, l the trutaries. everythi is connted. it startwith the rainn the motains. 's ferocus, it'slowing ft. it'sitting t rocks and shinthe ros. d thent's agin it meands. it tas its ti. and th in the d, flows vy slowly io the se no oth energy source destroys nare onuch dimeion asydro-pow. if you bld a d, ere's noater lef water f people, noater forish. trees n't eveneach the grouwater anore. (gentlmellow mic) in ctralurop river after ver afteriver

has be killed the last 50 60 year young ople havnever seen a ling rive theyhink theve seen e, but th're reguted chanls. if theres a euro, you kn, and were conneed, shldn't the be somhing that wdo not dtroy? i gr up in aittle to in german and we d a ver, and myather lened to swim thariver, and i arned toatch tros with my re hanin that ver. and yearlater, ty ilt a daupstream and e river s gone. d that made me, you knowwhat i a i'a river rson.

when i fst came the balns, i was coletely scked. (brit livelyusic) i thoughi know every ver in eope. ere's noing compable in eope likehis. (brit livelyusic) (gtle mell music) - i thk balkan rirs are special, not just because of the wildlife alone. rive down he are speal beuse of t people thative arou them. it's a cbinationith ture andulture. people he lived wn here wi rivers r millenas.

theyive with the river. whenhey talkthe rivetalks thugh them since i n rememb, i was somew connecd with rers. it staed, than to my d 'cause hwas a fisherma he still is, and en i wasrobably three,our yearold, he wouldake me fiing withim. but i alys wantea bit more tn just fhing the. so started rowg. mehow i de it to olympigames inour year t into fals, but thenissed thmedal. and promiseo myself wai'm gonna quithe srt and really srt livin entle meow musicontinues (gene poigna music)

in rivs, everying comes tother. u have a flow of energyhich youan see. it'so rich wh life. it where wer meetshe land. the nd is dierent, the smelis diffent. the feelg next to the rir is difrent. so if yotry and nipulate that, you e playinwith something ally big. the storabout thbalkan riveis a posive stor it's somhing wderful. it'sbout beay, actlly. but ny peopldon't see the auty anyre. wh we see bety, they s money. (bght live music) we havevidencef about 000 hydrower proct tween slenia andreece. literall every sgle rive would be dmed or derted.

it'st the brk, i wou say. buluckily,eople std up. even ithe remost rt of th count pele, loca stand uand try totop the m project. (gentlsomber mus) manylaces, wve forgoen to standp for nare, fosomethinthat we ll home. (m chantinin foreiglanguage en chantg in foren langua)

(gtle melaholy music) e vjosa albania isrobably e of the mt remarkle vers in e balks. d i thin's one of t most rerkable riversf europe it flo from th untains greece, intohe adriac sea inlbania thout an arficial obstacles. it the bgest wil rir that whave. (gene plainte music) the riveis actuay the ng of the valley soherever e rive nts to g it goes it'sn enormo mosaic dierent ansmall hatats.

(gentle llow mus) e peoplerom kute they wld lose e basis their estence. (gtlcheerful mus) (trin speaki in foreiglanguage

(gene melancly music (trifospeakingn foreign nguage)

(upbt livelyusic) ire cracing) you builone dam, the ture of l these cals is cided.

it's n concern about climate chge. it's n renewab energy. 's aboutoney. (tfon speang in foren langua) (trifon eaking i foreign nguage) (crowd saking in reign lauage) (trifospeakingn foren langge) (woman saking in foreign langua)

(man ired tispeaki inoreign lguage) (m in red e speaki in feign lanage) (cwd speakg in foren langua) (gtle poignt music (m singingn foreiglanguage (men speing in foign langge) (meninging i foreign nguage)

- lrich] aania i probablyhe worstountry onhe balka in relaon to damonstructn. they wna build mo than 50dams. every lile creeks thatened bhydroper plas. buluckily,e were able tfile a lsuit togeer with e localsrom kute they wt the vja valleyo be e first ld river nation park inurope. (upbt cheerf music) (trifon eaking i reign lauage)

the lawsre there. the enfoement is mething at is miing. we he to usehose laws, tually. publ consultion turn t to be really fe one 'cse none the loc commity affeed, directly affecd, as theaw requis, was coulted fo the hydrower. (trifon eaking i reign langge) myolleaguealled me and said, "h, you kn, we won and i id, "whadid we w?" we won, e court cided toancel th concsionary ntract. was belved inhe most otional y of my fe.

(upbeacheerful music ntinues) (trifospeakingn foreign nguage) right upfting muc) [ulrich] lot of ople thinthat hydropowe is green, renewab. buin fact,t's one of e worst ergy resrces relatn to nature a to peop.

- [nata] so lae dams a basilly floong the canyons, so makg lakes out ofhe river and all hydrower plantsre takin e water t of t canyon. 90% of a these hydropowe prects othe balks are so-cled smalscale hyopower pnts. it'sryg out e landsce. ere's noater left. e peoplehat are lking us io the hyo issue the old triane, the hydrlobby, and th there's the consuction lby, and th there ithe bankthe finaial mark. anthe reas why it'so interestg for mo of them is thait's ver hard toversee what t actual pric fosuch a d is. - nobodyeally kns w many cic meter of concre goes intone.

so it's etty sime to get so extra aunt out it. then you take in account whats necessary touild such a dam, the infrtructureyou ve to bud a road pipelis, you he to cut t forest inrder tbuild trsmission line all the things. you kn, they canalculate a ge amounof money d then t taxpayeor the conser has tpay that anthat ope the gates focorrupti. - [rok] looks rlly compx, the wle story t at the end othe day, it'really sple. thiss politilly unstab region where coanies and money om abroa can ke thingthat the nnot do europeaunion. the restf the eupe complety dammed. thers nowherelse ese lobbs can toake moreoney. (somr music)

(man sinng in foign langge) - [ulric the mavvo nation park inacedonia is one of tholdest naonal par in euro. it a mountnous regn, with lot of fost and a t of rivs. it home tone uniquspecies, as the bkan lynx (gentle beat mus)

(driver eaking i reign lauage)

(drivecontinuespeaking in feign lanage) uppy squking) (gtle plntive muc) (drir speaki in foren langua)

(gtle plaiive musicontinue (driver speang in foren language)

river spking in foign lauage) - we werinformedhat a hunt from kivo otograph the baln lynx. - [ulric i saw tse phos and aually we

the firstime i'vever seen sll balkalynx cub most people have never seen even traces. - [man] there're probably less than 50 specimen left in the world. and we could now prove that the balkan lynx is not only living in the national park, but it's reproducing. (bright lively music) (driver speaking in foreign language)

- [grge] theiggest threats ofhe survil of the bkan lynxs ithabitat structio and habit fragmeation. - [uich] so e nx depen on prey at prey,or examp, deer, dends on t rivers. so if yodam the ver, you stroy th hatat for e prey. means y endanged th species th cat actlly lies on ese rive, anthey wan build 1dams insidehe natiol park. why onarth do u establh a natial park whenou buildams in tre? it'sither/or if y have thdams, you won'have the cat. so we fid a compint the ber conventn

that is e convtion on nural habats d biodivsity, sang, "maconia is eaking the convenons that theyave sign." entle peeful mus) (dver spkingn foreiglanguage) (somr music) (helicopr bladeshirring)

(explosion boong) uns bangg) [ulrich]f you lk out the lkans, you thk basicay about e war inhe '90s, etic probls, maybe refees. (gentle poignant music) - the region is famous for conflict. people here went through really difficult things. but all i know about the conflict is from hearing others' stories.

(haunting poignant music) - [ulrich] the balkan rivers survived miraculously over theecades odestructn. bosn-herzegovi one of thmost betiful cotries wiin the bkans. they he mountas, they ve priste forest and ystal clr rivers

we have 4 rirs bosnia-rzegovin anwe have anned for 0 new hyopower pnts toe built. d that bically mns that aost on a rivers, hydrower plas are plned, and on se of the dozens. (gtle calmusic) (sumbua speang in foreign lanage)

(amelapeaking foreign langge) (gtle calmusic connues)