Grantees 2019

These five amazing river conservation projects have been selected for support in 2019.

Marañón Waterkeeper

Marañón Waterkeeper is a community lead organisation that is working to protect the Marañón River, hydrological source of the Amazon. 20 mega dams planned along the Marañón would turn its 900km of whitewater into a series of stagnant reservoirs, block passage of 23 migratory fish species, and have massive impacts on the Amazon below.
Marañón Waterkeeper is creating conservation areas to block dams in critical areas, creating educational campaigns in local communities, and assisting community activists all for one purpose; to ensure the source of the Amazon continues to flow free, forever.

Balkanka Association

“Balkanka” Association is a non-profit, non-governmental organization, registered in Bulgaria for action in public benefit, on 07 August 2013. The main objectives of “Balkanka” are protection and conservation of river biodiversity, with a focus on conservation and restoration of indigenous balkan trout populations in Bulgarian rivers. Most of our actions are focused on preventing the implementation of new hydropower plant (HPP) projects, monitoring of the already operating ones, improving the legislation in the field of river ecosystem management and forcing its proper applying. We work also on the problems with water pollution, sediment transport regime, illegal gravel abstraction, river channelization, clearing of riparian vegetation etc. Beside this we organize events on education, cleaning the trash along the rivers and fish restocking. Moreover, several scientific studies on HPP impact on
river ecosystems have been conducted by our association. Our association have already established collaborations with all states authorities responsible for water management. Continuously, we support them with our expertise and results of our monitoring in the field.

Donja Bukovica

The main goal of NGO Environmental movement „Donja Bukovica“ is to protect and preserve the
river Bukovica and to prevent the upbuilding of mini hydro power plants on this river. The upbuilding
of mini hydro power plants on Bukovica River would lead to the destruction of the river ecosystem.
Bukovica is one of the cleanest rivers in the Balkans, it has water of the A1 category and in that river
subsist endemic and stenoderma species.
We are acting against project „Construction of a small hydro power plants „Bukovica 1“ and
„Bukovica 2“, on the Bukovica River, in the municipality of Savnik“.
We believe that other Montenegrin citizens, led by our example, will activate and give their best to
be more numerous and to be as persistent as possible in the efforts to keep nature out of all negative
influences. We want to stop the construction of dams and hydroelectric power plants on our rivers.

The National Campaign to Protect the Bisri Valley

Our campaign aims mainly to protect the Bisri River and Valley from a World Bank-funded large dam. The dam will cause extensive damage to the river and its ecosystem, destroying 6 million sqaure meteres of natural and agricultural lands, in addition to 50 historical sites. We also raise awareness of the dam’s negative impacts, and we promote sustainable water management solutions to avoid the destruction of the Bisri River.

Mission East to West

Anup Gurung is a passionate kayaker and the founder and president of Nepal Kayak Club. With NKC, he has been organizing training and events to empower Nepalese paddlers and promote the Nepali whitewater scene. Through the Express Serie Championships, NKC has been promoting awareness about rivers threatened by hydropower such as the Bhotekoshi, Marsyangdi and Modi Khola with the “paddle it before it dries out” slogan. Now, with team Mission East to West, he has set out to explore all the major rivers of Nepal to explore not only the landscape but also the communities and cultures thriving and surviving by these rivers. By exploring these stories through film and stills, he hopes to raise awareness about the plight of Nepali rivers. He is joined mainly by three strong Nepali paddlers – Hari Ale, Roshan Lama and Tarjan Gurung who are all members of the Nepal Kayak Club as well as national and international kayakers for portions of their journey. They are supported by Kripa Dongol who has been helping the Nepal Kayak Club with events and outreach. She is a writer and researcher exploring intersections of environment and development in Nepal and will be managing logistics for ME2W and joining them for portions of the expedition to document their stories.

Saalach Allianz

The Saalach Allianz is working on and against several projects at Saalach river. Currently they are facing plans for a cross-border devision dam (“Schlauchwehr”) in Unken, Austria. The project has been submitted to authorities only in November 2018. At this early stage of the permission process a lot can be done to protect the Saalach river and to prevent the building of the dam. The Free Rivers Fund supports the Saalach Allianz in their struggle against the dam in Unken.