With the dominant message: “Aoos without Barriers: Joining forces for the first Cross-Border Free River Park in Europe, Aoos/Vjosa”, a science week in Sarantaporos, a branch of Aoos, also known as Sarantaporos Science Week, starts on Friday 28 June. with a view to highlight the ecological value of the river and strengthen efforts to conserve and protect it effectively.
Sarantaporos Science Week is organized for the first time, following examples of previous science weeks organized under the Save the Blue Heart of Europe campaign, such as those held in Bosnia and Herzegovina on the Neretva River and Vjosa Delta. Time in Greece. In total, more than 60 Greek, Albanian and other European volunteer scientists from 7 countries, ichthyologists, hydrologists, ornithologists, entomologists, underground life scientists, etc. in 17 universities and 5 research centers. It will cooperate with the main goal of its comprehensive institutional protection by gathering new information about the biodiversity and natural processes of the Aoos river basin and Sarandaporos and its streams, a poorly studied part of Greece.
The choice of Sarandaporos is not accidental. In November 2023, the last unprotected part of the Aoos River, which coincides with the Sarandaporos watershed, was designated as a Protected Natural Form and Protected Landscape by the Ministry of Environment and Energy. However, to date the conditions and restrictions for this designation have not been established and the Sarandaporos area still faces significant threats, mainly the installation of about 30 small hydropower plants (out of about 50 water basins planned in the area). . These projects will disrupt the river’s ecological integrity, cause irreversible impacts on the region’s ecosystems and biodiversity, and will affect both sides of the border by causing serious changes in the river’s hydromorphology.
Improving the protection of the entire Aoos watershed (including its tributaries and rivers) into a National Park by extending the boundaries of the Northern Pindos National Park to the Greek-Albanian border would provide the necessary framework for the creation of the first Transboundary Wildlife. River Park in Europe, Aoou/Vjosa.
In this direction, the Sarantaporos Science Week is an important international multidisciplinary initiative to highlight, preserve and institutionalize a unique river ecosystem: the Aoos/Vjosa, the last large free-flowing river in Europe.