Are Balkan Countries Safeguarding Their Rivers?

The report evaluates the alignment of national laws in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia with EU environmental standards. While some progress in transposition is noted, the analysis identifies systemic failures in enforcement, inadequate institutional capacity, and significant gaps in the implementation of the Water Framework, Nature, and Environmental Liability Directives, which hinder the protection of rivers from hydropower development.

• There is a widespread failure to effectively enforce existing environmental laws across all six analyzed Western Balkan nations, with a critical need for improved enforcement of regulations.
• Implementation of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Directive varies significantly; while Bosnia and Herzegovina has adopted more rigorous provisions than the EU requires, Montenegro and Serbia have mis-transposed screening provisions, potentially allowing 'salami slicing' of projects.
• Access to justice for decisions resulting from Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) procedures is severely restricted in most countries, with Albania being the only one ensuring the possibility to challenge such decisions.
• Montenegro is the only country among the six that has implemented regulations governing liability for environmental damage as per the Environmental Liability Directive (ELD).
• While core provisions of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) are largely adopted, a lack of secondary legislation and poor institutional capacity prevent effective implementation, and no River Basin Management Plans (RBMPs) have been adopted in Kosovo and North Macedonia.
• The designation of Natura 2000 sites under the Nature Directives is in early stages across the region, and detailed provisions for appropriate assessments are almost entirely absent, except in Montenegro.

APA

pravuljac, M., & smolak, M. (2024). Are Balkan Countries Safeguarding Their Rivers? ClientEarth. https://www.clientearth.org/media/jummasoz/are-balkan-countries-safeguarding-their-rivers_executive-summary-003.pdf

Chicago

pravuljac, maja, and małgorzata smolak. Are Balkan Countries Safeguarding Their Rivers? ClientEarth, 2024. https://www.clientearth.org/media/jummasoz/are-balkan-countries-safeguarding-their-rivers_executive-summary-003.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=pravuljac |first1=maja |last2=smolak |first2=małgorzata |title=Are Balkan Countries Safeguarding Their Rivers? |publisher=ClientEarth |date=June 2024 |url=https://www.clientearth.org/media/jummasoz/are-balkan-countries-safeguarding-their-rivers_executive-summary-003.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{pravuljac2024are, author = {pravuljac, maja and smolak, małgorzata}, title = {{Are Balkan Countries Safeguarding Their Rivers?}}, institution = {ClientEarth}, year = {2024}, month = jun, url = {https://www.clientearth.org/media/jummasoz/are-balkan-countries-safeguarding-their-rivers_executive-summary-003.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }