GlobalWarming & ClimateChange News Desk – The Vjosa river flows, interrupted, for more than 270km – from the Pindus mountains in northern Greece, across southern Albania to the Adriatic coast according to Carbon Brief

It is often described as one of the last remaining “wild rivers” in Europe outside of Russia.

After a hard-won fight from campaigners to protect the waterway from hydroelectric power development, the Albanian government made the Vjosa and its tributaries a national park in 2023. 

But, just three years later, the river faces myriad challenges, including from a major coastal development linked to US president Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

‘Near-natural condition’

The Vjosa is beloved by ornithologists, hydrologists, botanists and biologists alike for its rich biodiversity and the insights it provides into life on an interrupted, unbroken waterway. 

Prof Aleko Miho, a biologist at the University of Tirana and chairman of the board of NGO EcoAlbania, told Carbon Brief that the Vjosa’s “combination of near-natural condition and biodiversity makes [it] an outstanding model system for river research and management”.

The Vjosa river, near Përmet, Albania. Credit: Cecilia Keating

The river and its tributaries are home to a number of rare and previously undiscoveredinvertebrates and fish, including the “almost-extinct, tiny but mighty, Prosopistoma pennigerum mayfly”, he said. 

Other key species include the Albanian water frog, Egyptian vulture, European eeland long-fingered bat.

And yet, campaigners and scientists have warned that the Albanian government needs to step up its efforts to protect the river to prevent it from being a “park only on paper”. 

A 2025 report detailed the threats to the Vjosa, including from intensive agriculture, extractive industries, urban waste and sewage, as well as projected reductions in water flow due to climate change.

Furthermore, a tourism development planned where the Vjosa meets the Adriatic Sea has prompted outcry among scientists, who have warned the project would cause “irreversible harm” to a unique and sensitive ecosystem.

In the Vjosa-Narta delta, the river fans out into a network of salt marshes, lagoons, dunes and forests that host more than 2,300 species, dozens of which are endangered, such as monk seals, dalmatian pelicans and flamingos. According to BirdLife International, the region is one of “Europe’s most ecologically important coastal habitats”, as a home to more than 200 bird species and a “critical migration corridor” for “millions” more.

According to US NGO Pew Charitable Trusts, the mouths of free-flowing rivers often “harbour…extremely rich biodiversity”, in part because of the unimpeded flow of nutrients, minerals and sediment from upstream environments.

‘Sacred site’

The government’s decision to greenlight the new resort in the delta and on nearby Sazan island – which is being funded by Kushner’s investment fund, Affinity Partners – prompted major protests in Albania this summer. The so-called “Flamingo revolution” has been described as “one of the largest civic movements since the fall of the communist system in Albania”.

Miho was among hundreds of scientists to sign a petition in August that called on the government to halt the development and integrate the delta into the wild river national park. 

The scientific community is “highly concerned and alarmed” by the plans, he said:

“The Vjosa delta, with its coastal lagoons, is not only one of the last remaining intact deltas with an active ecosystem along the entire Mediterranean coast, but also an ecological asset of European importance and a critical node [for birds travelling between Europe and Africa].

“Placing luxury infrastructure in this sacred site would constitute a direct violation of the coastal landscape’s protected legal status and breach Albania’s commitments under international agreements.”

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