(crickets chirping) erene peeful mus) (she bleatin (gentlplaiive musi

(man in d tie spking in forei langue) hunderrashing) (raipatterin (waterplashing (gtle plaiive musicontinue when youmagine river, it's bically t same as tree.

thmain tru is the ver, but yohave theranches, l the trutaries. everythi is connted. it startwith t ra in the untains. 's ferocus, it'slowing ft. it'sitting t rocks and puinthe ros. d then is aging. 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 ctral eop 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 the is a eupe, 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 learned catch tuts with my re hand that river. 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. rit livelyusic) i thout i know everriver inurope. 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. i started rowg. somehow made it olympigames inour year t into fals, but thenissed thmedal. and promiseo myself wai'm gonna quithe srt and ally 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 allyig. the storabout thbalkan riveis a posive stor it's somhing wderful. it'sbout beay, actlly. but ny peopldon't see thbeauty amore. 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) many places, 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. (gtle plaiive musi the rir is actlly the ng of the valley soherever e rive nts to g it goes it'sn enormo mosaic dierent ansmall hatats.

(gentlmellow mic) 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) (trifospeakingn 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) (men sging in reign lauage)

- 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 the firswild riv natial park europe. (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 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. but inact, it'one of thworst engy resoues relatioto ture ando people

- [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'srying outhe landape. there's water lef 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. - thenou'd te into aount whats necessary touild such a dam, the infrtructureyou ve to bud a road pipelis, you he to cut t forest inrder tbuild trsmission lis, all tse thing you kn, they can cculate a hu amount money anthen theaxpayer the consum has to y that, d that ons the gates r corrupon. - [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 go toake moreoney. (somr music)

(man sinng in foign langge) - [ulric the mavvo nation park inacedonia is one of e oldest tional pks in eupe. it a mountnous regn, with lot of fost and lot of rers. it home tone uniquspecies, as the bkan lynx (gentle beat mus)

(driver eaking i reign lauage)

(drivecontinuespeaking in feign lanage) uppy squking) (gentle plaintivmusic) (drir speaki in foren langua)

(gtle plaiive musicontinue (driver speang in foren language)

(driver eaking in reign lauage) - we werinform tha a huer from cevo 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)

- [gjoe] the bgest threats ofhe survil of the bkan lynxs ithabitat structio and hatat fragntation. - [ulrh] so th ly dependsn 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 spking in foreiglanguage) (somr music) (helicopr bladeshirring)

(exploon boomi) uns bangg) [ulrich]f you ta abt the baans, you thinbasicallabout thwar in t '90s, ethnic pblems, mbe rugees. (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. boia-herzegovi one of thmost betiful cotries wiin the bkans. they he mountas, they ve priste forest and ystal clr rivers

we have 4 vers in bosniherzegova, anwe have anned for 0 new hyopower pnts be buil d that bically mns that aost on a rivers, hydrower plas are plned, and on se of the dozens. (gtle calmusic) (sumbua spking in foreign lanage)

(amela saking in reign langge) (gtle calmusic connues)