As part of our intensive efforts in the Aoos river basin we are very pleased to announce that the new project “Ri-Connect” has just started, in order to contribute to the maintenance of the free flow of the river and its tributaries as a transboundary ecological corridor and resource for community development.
Within the Pindos-Prespes Connectivity Conservation Area runs one of the longest free-flowing rivers in Europe, the Aoos/Vjosa, shared between Greece and Albania. Almost 2/3 of the basin overlaps with the Northern Pindos National Park, with the unprotected stretch located in the Konitsa Municipality, at a distance from the Protected Area’s Management Unit. The need to maintain the free flow of the river is crucial both for people and nature.
MedINA, with the support of the Prespa Ohrid Nature Trust (PONT) Environmental Actors Programme (Pindos-Prespes Connectivity Conservation Area) which is funding the project, will implement a series of substantial activities:
(a) Foster active citizenship to mobilise local communities to actively defend their invaluable resource.
(b) Address key river connectivity issues and support institutional protection of the entire river basin.
(c) Raise awareness to a diverse international, national and local audience.
Ri-Connect will run for two years, until June 2025, hoping that the Aoos river and its tributaries will remain “free”, wild and rushing for the generations to come.
Photo: Location of a planned Small Hydropower Plant in the Sarantaporos River sub-basin, © David Kern/MedINA.
