Albania's government has designated the Vjosa River in the southern part of the country as a national park, marking a victory for environmentalists who have been fighting for years against plans for hydropower plants along the waterway.
Environmentalists and scientists have dubbed the Vjosa the last "wild" river in Europe, as it flows uninterrupted for 270 km from Greece across southern Albania to the Adriatic Sea, without any dams or power stations.
They say the river is home to around 1,000 species, including the critically endangered European eel and endangered endemic plant species. Declaring Vjosa and its tributaries a national park will prevent building projects. Albania's Prime Minister Edi Rama said there will be an initial budget of $80 million to build new factories to stop wastewater from reaching the river.
"Today we are protecting forever the last wild river of Europe," Rama said during a signing ceremony in the southern city of Tepelena, some 215 kilometres from the capital Tirana.
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