On 21 April 2025, Besjana Guri and Olsi Nika received the renowned 2025 Goldman Environmental Prize. The prize is endowed with 200,000 USD.  They were given the prize for their indispensable commitment to igniting a social movement to establish the Vjosa Wild River National Park, the first of its kind in Europe.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature released an assessment report about the controversial water abstraction project from the Shushica River. The report concluded that the proposed project would severely impact the national park’s biodiversity and fail to comply with IUCN national park standards.

On 11 December 2024, a court in Tirana finally ended the threat of hydropower plants on the Shushica - one of the main tributaries of the Vjosa and part of the Vjosa Wild River National Park.

Last Saturday, representatives of the communities of the Shushica river valley and other locals from Vlora and Vjosa valley travelled to Tirana to hand over a special petition to Prime Minister Edi Rama. People from 37 villages in the valley have united in a powerful statement against the water abstraction project from the Shushica River.

From 22 to 28 April 2024, a science delegation from Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Greece, and Italy collected multidisciplinary data in the partially undiscovered and intact Vjosa Delta. Every observation of this expedition aims to unveil the ecological importance of this area and advocate for its inclusion in the Vjosa Wild River National Park (WRNP) in accordance with IUCN standards.

On this year’s International Day of Forests on March 21st, we are proud to inaugurate our first tree nursery along the picturesque banks of the Vjosa River. The inauguration ceremony, held in Tepelena, marked the official launch of the ReForestVjosa project, a comprehensive reforestation initiative aimed at revitalizing the Vjosa's ecosystem and mitigating erosion along its shores.

Vjosa Wild River National Park is under threat as construction works on Shushica persists for the water supply of the tourist coast! Despite relentless opposition from locals, activists, and scientists, the construction goes on. The fate of over 30 villages hangs in the balance, but our community's resolve is unbreakable. Find out more about the Shushica case and the local resistance in the video by Joshua David Lim:

12 mayors and numerous other residents of the Shushica Valley and other regions of the Vjosa National Park, activists, lawyers and scientists gathered this morning in the village of Kuç on the banks of the Shushica River. They are protesting the plans of the government in Tirana to take the water from the Shushica and channel it to the Mediterranean

On December 16 2023 local residents from the villages of the Shushica Valley, part of the Vjosa River National Park, along with activists, held another protest in Kuç, against the project to divert water from the Lëpusha source for the construction of the Himara water supply system. After more than 5 months of efforts, residents from the Vlora River area remain

Way forward for the 1st Transboundary Wild River National Park in Europe. An important step was taken on November 28th by the Greek Ministry of Environment and Energy with the designation of part of the catchment area of the transboundary river Aoos in Greece as a Protected Natural Formation and