Water is and should remain a public good – citizens’ initiatives

The privatization of drinking water sources in Serbia – and the region – has proceeded fairly unnoticed and under the radar. By contrast, the construction of small hydropower plants (SHPPs), especially in protected areas, has caused a revolt in parts of Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Albania, while the response of Serbian citizens to the […]

Water December 27, 2018

BSTDB initiates first energy efficiency facility in Romania

The Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB) has secured a EUR 7 million revolving facility for Garanti Consumer Finance, a Romanian non-banking financial institution, to finance energy efficiency, renewable energy, and water-saving solutions in the Romanian residential housing sector, the BSTDB said in a press release. The BSTDB’s first facility of the kind is […]

River flow regulation, sedimentation, renewable energy investment core of new project in the Drina River Basin

Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia have agreed to jointly investigate options for formalizing river flow regulation, occurrence of erosion and sedimentation, as well as ways to promote investment into renewable energy in the framework of a new project funded by the Italian Ministry for the Environment, Land and Sea and implemented by United Nations […]

Study looks into Neretva, Trebišnjica river basins’ regional economic impact

The Neretva and Trebišnjica river basins are of critical economic significance for three economies and four political entities: Republika Srpska and Federation Bosnia and Herzegovina (both in Bosnia and Herzegovina), Croatia and Montenegro as tens of thousands of jobs – and hundreds of thousands of livelihoods – depend directly on water-based activities, such as hydropower, […]

UNECE assessment in Drina river basin highlights importance of improving water quality and calls for strengthened transboundary cooperation

Addressing water pollution and improving water quality and monitoring are key steps needed to face the challenges in the Drina River Basin of ensuring sustainable development in a transboundary context, UNECE published in its statement following the completion of the intersectoral and participatory assessment of the Drina River Basin, shared mainly by Bosnia and Herzegovina, […]

Belgrade Water project seeks consultant firms to help improve its efficiency

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has invited expressions of interest from consultant firms or group of firms to assist in the preparation of a Financial and Operational Performance Improvement for Belgrade Water project. The overall objective is to improve the Company’s operational efficiency, environmental, social and financial management in order to strengthen the […]

Water November 29, 2017

Strengthening regional cooperation towards environmental and health safety

Elizabet Paunović, Head of World Health Organization (WHO)’s European Center for Environment and Health, explains in an interview for the Balkan Green Energy News how air pollution is responsible for various diseases and hundreds of thousands of premature deaths in Europe. Paunović says that WHO’s focus in the region, apart from the air quality, is […]

Interviews October 26, 2017