The Dam Truth: Patagonia and its fight to conserve the Balkans

By Riley K. Sharp

With conservationists and activists pushing for more assistance fighting global climate change, big corporations are taking the necessary steps to get on board.

One of these eco-minded companies has prided itself on sponsoring and funding conservation efforts in every corner of the globe.

Patagonia’s mission for years has been to “build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis,” and they continue to substantiate their position on global climate change with their new project in the Balkan region of Europe.

The outdoor conservation-based company teamed up with FarmLeague, an independent film production company, to create a remarkable documentary on the misguided use of hydropower in the Balkan region. It documents how building new dams on the Balkans’ rivers is disrupting and uprooting ecosystems and hundreds of species, putting the wondrous and bountiful region at high risk.

In order to stop the thousands of planned dams being placed this year in prospective areas in the Balkan-river region, Patagonia has launched The Blue Heart Campaign.

The regions at risk are located between Slovenia and Albania and are full of ripe and flourishing mountain rivers, lakes and national parks. Local economies in both countries thrive off of fishing and are highly dependent on the freshwater source.

The proposed dams would enable electricity production, but they also adversely affect the environment by blocking rivers and drowning vast areas of land that are usually dry. The controversy over these vast hydroelectric projects has now reached its boiling point, causing Patagonia to uphold its mission of supporting the global effort to conserve ecosystems and take a stand.

The funding for these projects is coming directly from major European banks, chipping in a vast 700 million euro to see through the construction of over 3,000 hydropower projects in the Balkans.

In response, Patagonia released a petition on March 19 for voters to take a pledge against the dam construction.

The International Hydropower Association published a report back in 2016 stating that the Western Balkan region has “the largest remaining unexploited hydropower potential in Europe as its river catchments have remained largely undeveloped.” This untouched territory has large corporations drooling from the mouth, ready and on standby to get a piece of the hydropower and hydroelectic dam construction.

While hydropower is a renewable source of energy, it is one of the only sources that actually has consequential actions. One-third of these projects are being planned in “protected areas” or internationally recognized areas of high biodiversity value.

I applaud Patagonia and other conservation-minded companies who have taken action against the distasteful mistake of hydropower and dam construction.