River in focus: Rivers of Mavrovo National Park

Country: North Macedonia

Local partners: Eko-Svest – Centre for Environmental Research and Information

Project goal: To ban the development of hydropower projects in protected areas of North Macedonia by ensuring the adoption of the new Draft Law on Nature; to complete the process of re-proclamation of Mavrovo National Park and facilitate the implementation of a management plan that safeguards all free-flowing rivers from hydropower development.

Background

Nestled in the mountains of North Macedonia, Mavrovo National Park is one of Europe’s oldest and most treasured protected areas. Spanning 73,000 hectares of primaeval forests, alpine meadows, and crystalline rivers, it forms the heart of the southernmost stretch of the European Green Belt. This landscape is home to wolves, bears, otters, rare trout, and more than a thousand plant species. Its most iconic resident is the critically endangered Balkan lynx, one of the continent’s most endangered mammals. Fewer than 50 individuals are believed to survive today. Mavrovo is the last place where this elusive subspecies still reproduces, making the park essential for its survival.

Ongoing threats

Despite its global ecological importance, the park faces growing pressure from hydropower development. Over the past decade, small hydropower plants have proliferated across North Macedonia—often hidden in remote valleys and protected areas and approved without transparency, without consulting local communities. They drain rivers, damage habitats, and deprive communities of essential water, while producing minimal energy. In Mavrovo, four small plants exist, with more planned, straining fragile ecosystems and threatening the park’s very status. International experts, including the Bern Convention and IUCN, warn that continued hydropower development could drive the Balkan lynx to extinction. While the government has halted some major dams and revoked concessions elsewhere, it has not cancelled existing Mavrovo permits.

How we are taking action

For more than a decade, local communities and civil society groups in North Macedonia have mobilised to defend the country’s rivers and its most iconic wildlife. Today, this movement stands at a pivotal moment. With a new Law on Nature Protection in preparation, a national no-go zone methodology for hydropower in place, and growing recognition of the value of free-flowing rivers, the opportunity to secure lasting protection has never been greater. Yet despite government commitments to halt new concessions, existing hydropower permits in Mavrovo and other protected areas remain in force.

Together with our local partner Eko-svest, we are working to stop harmful hydropower development and strengthen environmental governance across protected areas. Our core demand is clear: a binding legal ban on small hydropower plants in all protected areas.

We are pushing for this by:

• Driving legal change through parliamentary advocacy, expert legal and scientific support to public institutions, and international pressure via the Bern Convention and the EU accession process.
• Challenging harmful subsidies that favour small hydropower and demanding fair energy policies and permitting rules based on full environmental impact assessments.
• Mobilising public support through targeted media campaigns, storytelling and creative activism with children and youth—exposing the real costs of small hydropower and building a powerful movement to keep rivers free-flowing and communities in control of their water.