Читать книгу The Peaks of the Balkans Trail. Montenegro, Albania and Kosovo онлайн

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Despite the presence of these national parks, the area is not without its own environmental issues. In the Valbona Valley, there are proposals for a large number of hydroelectric power plants, some of them within the protected area of the national park itself. Pollution of mountain rivers from toilets – in some cases built directly above streams, as at Dobërdol – is another concern, in particular given the sharp (and continuing) increase of trekkers on the Peaks of the Balkans Trail.

View on the approach to the Valbona Pass (Stage 1)

VALBONA RIVER HYDROELECTRIC POWER PLANTS

There are plans to construct no fewer than 14 hydroelectric power plants along a 30km stretch of the Valbona River, with eight of these to be within the Valbona National Park itself. Despite local residents having filed numerous official complaints, and concerns having been raised by national and international organisations including EuroNatur and the WWF, there has been little or no response to these objections from the Albanian government: they simply argue that the concessions for the projects were made by the previous government, and imply they are unable or unwilling to stop them going ahead – even though they admit they should never have been granted.