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Albania report: 40% fewer rivers due to hydropower development

2026-01-21 18:47:00, Aktualitet CNA

Albania report: 40% fewer rivers due to hydropower development

A new report on the state of Balkan rivers for 2025 also includes details on the situation in Albania.

Through a detailed material entitled "Hydromorphological Assessment and 13-Year Trends" by researchers Ulrich Schwarz and Fluvius Vienna, several important elements are highlighted that have contributed to a problem: the loss of intact rivers.

“Albania has lost many pristine rivers due to hydropower development over the last 10-15 years, while most pristine rivers, such as the Vjosa and the Osumi Canyon, still remain. The drastic deterioration of HYMO conditions on a large river, the middle Devollin (2018–2025) after the construction of the Banja (built in 2016) and Moglica (upstream, operating since 2020) hydropower plants is symptomatic: not only do reservoirs appear in red on maps, but also downstream sections affected by residual water discharges or altered discharge regimes have become visible,” the report states.

This 2025 analysis finds particularly severe degradation in sites targeted by hydropower development.

Albania report: 40% fewer rivers due to hydropower development

Calculating the changes, the data reveals a surprising loss of rivers:

Quasi-natural river stretches fell sharply from 68% in 2012 to just 40% in 2025, a massive 28% decrease. In absolute terms, the length of quasi-natural rivers fell from 3,812 rkm to 2,668 rkm in just seven years (2018–2025).

Amid the decline, significant river protections have been achieved.

Most importantly, according to the report, Vjosa was declared the first Wild River National Park in Europe, successfully blocking nearly 40 planned dams./CNA

 





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