Environment

More than just money? EU investments for green Western Balkans

16/08/2023 -  Marilen Martin

EU investments aim to support the green transition of the Western Balkan countries, but criticism about the project types and the process remains

Ukraine's wildfires surge amidst war

07/08/2023 -  Marilen Martin

Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine led to a surge in forest and rural fires across the country. Combating them is all the more difficult amidst the war that binds all resources and unexploded mines that contaminate the territory

In Croatia, firefighters brace for climate change

27/07/2023 -  Chiara Marchesini Zagreb

Among the effects of climate change are so-called extreme wildfires. In Croatia, large fires in open spaces present a particular problem. We met with the Croatian Association of Firefighters to find out how they are facing up to new challenges

A long way to go: the Western Balkans and the green transition

15/06/2023 -  Marilen Martin

To eventually access the European Union, the Western Balkans have to align their legislation with EU law. This includes the Green Deal, which commits countries to net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. However, there’s still quite a long way to go for the Western Balkans in their progress towards the green transition

Energy transition: EU funds for renewables increase

04/09/2023 -  Ornaldo Gjergji

For the 2014-2020 programming period, the European Union allocated around 5.9 billion Euros under its cohesion policy to implement renewable energy projects. An overview of the data

LECA, coexisting with large carnivores in the Carpathians and Europe

24/08/2023 -  Marco Ranocchiari

Large carnivores are returning to populate more and more natural areas of the Old Continent: a success for the conservation of ecosystems, but also a cause of conflicts with the population. Coexistence is built by harmonising laws, good practices, and scientific knowledge. The Interreg LECA project moves in this direction

Croatia shows how to deal with the worst wildfires

05/07/2023 -  Chiara Marchesini Zagreb

Last year Croatia’s coastal region was hit by an intense wave of forest fires, one of the worst in recent years. But the country has been gearing up to cope – partly thanks to EU funding.

Croatia, Fearless project: demining completed

19/07/2023 -  Nicole Corritore

Croatia's strategic goal is to clear the country of landmines by 2026, as foreseen in the National Demining Programme. A third of the remaining contaminated territory will be reclaimed thanks to European cohesion funds

Balkans: the alternative to coal includes energy communities

17/07/2023 -  Ornaldo Gjergji

In the Balkans, a region where energy is produced from fossil fuels or – when from renewable sources – from hydroelectric energy, energy communities are gaining ground: groups of citizens and small businesses that focus on self-production and self-consumption of renewable energy

The Žitna lađa, traditions along the Kupa

31/08/2023 -  Giovanni Vale

Through entrepreneurial initiative, Ana and Jasmina have managed to bring back to life a story – that of river navigation – which involves different territories. The last episode of our report dedicated to the Kupa

Cres: Irena, Guerino, and San Martino medicinal herbs

28/06/2023 -  Davide Sighele

In San Martino in Valle, on the island of Cres, the distillation of medicinal herbs boasts a centuries-old tradition. Today, it is kept alive by Irena and her husband Guerino

Cycling between environment and memory: the new Isonzo-Soča cross-border park

31/05/2023 -  Paola Rosà

The warm season will be an opportunity to test the new infrastructures and strategies of an EU-funded project in the municipalities of Gorizia, Nova Gorica, and Šempeter-Vrtojba, a border area that conceives itself as a single, homogeneous territory along the river Soča

Rivers of the Balkans: the Kupa of Karlovac

23/05/2023 -  Giovanni Vale

Few cities can boast of being crossed by four rivers. Karlovac is one of them. Kupa, Dobra, Korana, and Mrežnica. A river city that saw its golden age towards the end of the eighteenth century. Our reportage continues along the Kupa River

Europe and energy communities

13/04/2023 -  Ornaldo Gjergji

Energy communities are projects in which citizens associate both as producers and consumers of clean energy at a local level. There are already many of them, including in South-Eastern Europe. They could be supported by EU cohesion policy, but that is not the case yet

Save Lake Prespa, a natural treasure among three Balkan states

27/02/2023 -  Aleksandar Samardjiev Tetovo

Lake Prespa, divided between North Macedonia, Albania, and Greece, is the natural habitat of thousands of species, some of which are unique. Due to the gradual loss of water, it risks losing its biodiversity. Despite the growing efforts to save it, the situation appears extremely complicated

Serbia: toxic substances and dangerous railways

26/01/2023 -  Antonela Riha Belgrade

Little or nothing is known about the impact and responsibility of 20 tonnes of ammonia leaking from a tank on a freight train in southeast Serbia, an accident that also claimed two lives. In Serbia, it remains hard for citizens to obtain information about these environmental disasters

North Macedonia, citizens oppose the opening of mines

27/12/2022 -  Aleksandar Samardjiev Tetovo

Civil society organizations in North Macedonia have been fighting against the opening of new copper and gold mines for years. Citizens have collected documentation and evidence that mining will seriously damage the environment

Rivers of the Balkans: the Kupa and barbed wire

21/12/2022 -  Giovanni Vale

Second episode of our reportage along the Kupa. The shock of the border in 1991, the shock of barbed wire in 2015. Yet, some are not giving up

Plitvice: the care of a park

15/12/2022 -  Nicole Corritore Plitvice

A UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979, the Plitvice Lakes Park located in Croatia on the border with Bosnia Herzegovina, with its 300 sq km of surface area, is an exceptional European natural area. The biodiversity of its habitats and its overall ecosystem need constant protection interventions. A reportage

North Macedonia, the energy challenge

14/12/2022 -  Aleksandar Samardjiev Tetovo

The global energy crisis has exposed all the difficulties of North Macedonia, with its limited and obsolete production system. Renewing it and bringing it up to date is one of the main challenges for the future of the country

Rivers of the Balkans: the Kupa

07/12/2022 -  Giovanni Vale

We dedicate the second chapter of our report on the rivers of the Balkans to the Kupa. The journey will lead us to talk about natural parks and migrations, borders and declining industry, barbed wire and sustainable tourism

What the Balkans think about climate change

29/11/2022 -  Klaudijo Klaser

On Eurobarometer we find all the data on the opinions of European citizens on climate change. In the Balkans, as in the rest of Europe, few think that citizens themselves can be the key to virtuous dynamics

Fair farming, Emilia Romagna and northern Albania

25/11/2022 -  Davide Sighele

RuralAlbania, a project to support small agricultural producers in northern Albania, started in September. It follows up on strong preexisting relationships, and one of the first initiatives was a study visit

Serbia: Eko Straza, citizens in action against air pollution

28/10/2022 -  Serena Epis

Eko Straza is one of the civic initiatives that with activism and protests across the country has contributed most to bringing environmental issues to the centre of public and political debate in Serbia. We interviewed Stanislav Vuckovic, an activist of the group

Croatia hits the gas

18/10/2022 -  Giovanni Vale

Croatia is preparing to become a regional gas supply centre thanks to the regasification plant inaugurated on the island of Krk in 2021. The Plenkovic government rejoices over Zagreb's renewed strategic-energy role, but environmentalists disagree entirely

Adriaticaves, protecting the caves between Italy and the Balkans

14/10/2022 -  Marco Ranocchiari

The Adriaticaves project, part of the Interreg Adrion cooperation programme, aims to promote sustainable management of the immense speleological heritage scattered on both shores of the Adriatic, with particular attention to tourism with low environmental impact and disadvantaged territories

European Cohesion Funds and environmental sustainability in the Balkans

27/09/2022 -  Klaudijo Klaser

In the last seven-year period of European cohesion funds, many billions of Euros have already been allocated to environmental protection. 9 went to the EU countries of South East Europe

"Novi Sad on water", concrete and protests along the Danube

22/09/2022 -  Marco Ranocchiari

After Belgrade, Novi Sad. The new urban plan threatens the banks of the Danube and a natural area that "lets the river breathe", essential in case of flooding. The city administration continues at full speed along the concrete road

Astypalea, the first ‘smart & sustainable island’ in the Mediterranean

13/09/2022 -  Mary Drosopoulos

On a remote island of the Aegean, thanks to a public-private collaboration and European funds, an innovative sustainable mobility system is being developed

European food companies break their plastics promises

12/09/2022 -  Kira Schacht

Two-thirds of pledges to go greener on plastic fail or are dropped, a DW investigation has found. Here's how European food and drink companies break their own commitments, and how legislation might hold them accountable