PRETITLE

 

COM: Rivers. The first human civilisations were born on their banks.

 

They gave us everything we needed to exist and prosper.

 

We quickly learned how to tame the rivers and harness their force.

 

We have destroyed most of them so much that they are often unable to support us today.

 

The rivers themselves are dying because of us.

 

This is a story of despair and desperation but also of determination and hope.

 

People have stood up against the devastation of life-giving rivers.

 

They are ready to protect them and defend their rights to the finish.

 

 

TITLE: UNTIL THE LAST DROP.

 

END COM:  These are our rivers and we decide.

 

INTRODUCTION PRESENTER

 

COM: I am Piotr Nieznański.

 

Rivers have always fascinated me.

 

I grew up on the Bystra, a clean and wild tributary of the Vistula, the longest Polish river.

 

Diggers destroyed the free running Bystra in front of me and created an artificial reservoir in a place favoured by trout.

 

Part of the river was regulated and its bank turned into a concrete embankment.  

 

 

Anger and a sense of helplessness at the devastation of the wild river of my childhood strongly influenced what I do today.

 

I joined those in different corners of the world fighting for the same thing.

Healthy rivers and clean water.

 

 

My river conservation work and my journey have shown me that there are more and more of us every day.

 

ITALY, THE SARNO RIVER

 

 

NATSOTVINCENZO: We live in a city where only now they are building a sewage system. We are stuck in the Middle Ages! But it is industrial wastewater that kills us. We live in a world where business is put above the health of its citizens.

 

COM: I arrived in the town of Nocera Inferiore in southern Italy a few months after a symbolic funeral took place there.

 

NOVEMBER 2021

 

COM: Nearly one thousand of its residents buried their killer.

They buried the Sarno, the most polluted river in Europe and one of the dirtiest rivers in the world.

 

SYNCMario: The message was simple. You die here. The river is dead. There are no life forms in the river, no flora or fauna. Due to the presence of heavy metals and chemical compounds in the river, people die. People who breathe her air and have contact with the water.

 

SYNCVincenzo: It was a kind of provocation to get the attention of various institutions. It was a cry of our desperation.

 

SYNCVincenzo: People often see cancer as bad luck and ask: Why me? They struggle to connect what happens to them with where they live. This funeral was a way to remember those who didn’t win with the disease.

 

COM: Mario and Vincenzo told me the story of how the Sarno River became a deadly, foul-smelling stream.

 

SYNCMario: We grew up on the river, dealing with the drama of its pollution. It aroused our anger and determination, pushed us to fight and united our people in trying to make a difference.

 

SYNCMario: We lost two people in my family: my dad and my grandpa. Dad was 31 and grandpa was 54. Both were born here and lived by the river. The cases that affected my family are a small drop in this sea of ​​diseases in our district.

 

SYNCVincenzo: In the last years I have felt fear towards the Sarno River. Only cowards say they are not afraid. Whenever I take blood tests, when I have to do some check-ups at the hospital, or someone in my family goes for check-ups, I hold my breath. Fear always accompanies me.

 

COM: Fear and death of loved ones were what motivated them the most.

 

They set up an organisation with a group of friends and challenged the local authorities.

 

The fight for a clean Sarno River has become their mission.

 

SYNCVINCENZO: I feel mostly fear, and from that fear comes the courage to raise your head and say “No”! The courage to stand up to the system and the lobbyists. The courage to risk yourself and to fight.

 

COM: The Sarno River is 15 miles long. It flows from the base of Mount Sarno in the Italian region of Campania.

 

It collects water along the way from two tributaries: the Solofrana and the Cavaiola.

 

SYNCMario: This is one of the few places where the water is of excellent quality. It's transparent.

SYNCMARIO: The Sarno River was a god in ancient times. Thanks to the river society, trade and relations between cities developed. People travelled on the river. People respected it and they worship it.

 

THE SARNO RIVER- GLOBAL CONTEXT

 

COM: The collapse of the Sarno River is an example of the price we pay for development and progress.

 

Water covers most of our planet's surface.

 

But rivers, the main source of clean, fresh water without which there is no life, are only less than one per cent of all its resources.

 

Today, rivers are the most degraded ecosystems in the world.

 

The pollution and regulation of rivers, the construction of dams,

over-exploitation of fisheries and poor water management have led to this.

 

These are the conclusions of the most recent reports.

 

Biodiversity is disappearing in the world's rivers and we have pushed the populations of many fish species to the brink of their survival limit.

 

In 1970 when I was born, there were 4 billion people on earth.

 

Today we are 8 billion.

 

On average, out of 10 fish that swam in the rivers back then, only one is left.

 

In the 21st century more of us have access to cell phones than to a toilet.

 

And at least 2 billion people drink water contaminated with faeces.

 

Every day 2 million tons of sewage, industrial and agricultural waste are discharged into our planet's waters.

 

Most of this pollution ends up in our rivers and oceans.

 

 

THE SARNO RIVER- II PART

 

COM: The town of Solofra in the Sarno River valley.

 

In the 1960s at the source of the Soloframa stream a tannery industry was established here.

 

Today, Solofra is Italy's largest centre of tannery plants. They treat leathers valued for their excellent quality worldwide.

 

But the price for this quality is paid by the people who live in the region.

 

 

The water from the tanning plants is discharged to this treatment facility.

 

 

SYNCMario: The water that flows into the treatment facility has a specific smell because of heavy metals, mainly chromium, that are used in tanneries for leather processing.

 

But there are also others, which are supposed to cleanse and colour the skin. These leathers then go to big and famous fashion houses.

 

COM: Natural dyes that were used in ancient times have been replaced by chemicals.

 

SYNCVincenzo:  Chromium is the main character of our story. But it's not just chromium. In Solofra there are a lot of chemical industry plants that complement the tannery industry. And all these heavy metals, chemical compounds and solvents are discharged to the Solofra treatment facility.

 

SYNCMario:  Even though these plants are connected to the Solofra treatment facility, it does not work the way it should. It is not treating the water properly.

 

COM: As a result, a toxic cocktail of heavy metals and chemicals flows throughout the entire Sarno River valley.

 

In some areas poisoned water strikes exceptionally hard.

 

SYNCVincenzo:  This waterfall behind us is the real source of death. This is the main pollution site of the Sarno River. Here, the river collects this deadly load and carries it into the Alvio Comune Nocerino Canal. The canal runs through the city centre and affects the health of our families.

 

 

SYNCMario:  There is also pollution caused by plastic thrown into the river as a result of the bad habits of residents and companies. There are points on the river where this waste accumulates; bottles, cans, and plastic rubbish, not to mention chemical substances used in agriculture or orchards. Large plants use pesticides and other toxic substances.

 

SYNC Vincenzo: Over the years much data has emerged confirming the concentration of heavy metals. It exceeds the legal limits several times over.

 

COM: Mario and Vincenzo regularly take water for analysis. However, most institutions are reluctant to co-operate.

 

Once again a laboratory refused to test the water samples.

 

The activists have been trying to draw the attention of the regional politicians to the river and people’s drama for years.

 

In 2021 they took the problem of the Sarno River to the European Parliament in Strasbourg. To date, none of these efforts have brought specific results.

 

But the organisation does not give up. Putting constant pressure on the local authorities is part of their fight for a clean river.

 

ASTON NOVEMBER 2022

 

COM: On Halloween night they gathered again in the city for a vigil with the river in a symbolic coffin.

 

The event sent a clear message. The Sarno still kills.

 

 

 

 

The toxic river ends its deadly course in the Bay of Naples where it spits poisoned waters straight into the Tyrrhenian Sea.

 

It is just a few kilometres from the Amalfi coast, considered to have the most beautiful beaches in Europe.

 

And the region is on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

 

On the last stretch the river destroys the coastal ecosystem and still poses a threat to people.

 

SYNCMario: Everyone needs to be aware of the risks and importance of what is going on here. The problem is that people don’t see any danger.

Look, fishermen come to the most polluted place in Europe to catch fish, which they will later eat or sell at the market.

 

SYNCMario: Our goal is to clean the Sarno River. And our motto that we want to pass on to the others is: "Until the Last Drop”. It gives us the energy to keep going. We don't want the next generations to face this problem, and, above all, the death that this river brings.

 

SYNCVINCENZO: The only question we should ask ourselves is: what if it's too late? Our planet will not wait forever.

 

SWITZERLAND

 

NATSOTNEWS: Yet another funeral for a glacier lost to climate change was held. This time in Switzerland.

 

Sunday's funeral march was joined by dozens of people.

 

COM: The planet doesn't wait here.

 

This time, the participants bid farewell to the Pizol Glacier, located in the eastern part of the country.

 

Since 2006 it has lost nearly 96 per cent of its mass due to global warming.

 

I am waiting for a special guest.

 

NATSOT: Daniel?  Hi, I am Piotr.

 

Daniel Farinotti, a professor of glaciology, has been studying for years how climate change affects the conditions of glaciers.

 

We arrange to meet at the foot of the Rhône, the oldest Alpine glacier.

 

Glaciers cover 10 per cent of the earth’s land surface.

 

Together with the ice caps they contain nearly 70 per cent of the world's fresh water.

 

They are its critical and natural reservoirs.

 

 

NATSOTPiotr: 00:48:58 So this is to measure how fast is the glacier melting?

 

 

NATSOTDaniel: Yeah, exactly. The principle is very simple. We drill this pole into the ice, then we measure this distance, and after a while, typically after a year, or half a year, we come back and check how much the distance has changed.

 

 

 

SYNCDaniel: We produced the study in 2022 where we have analysed how the glaciers have behaved in the last century. We know that since 1940s until now we’ve lost more than a half of the entire volume of the Swiss Alps. In that sense it is a very bad news.

 

SYNCDaniel: Through the change of climate, through the increased melt, we are getting more and more water from the glaciers. At the same moment, the glaciers are retreating and becoming smaller. So, at present, we are probably at the moment in which we see this maximum amount of water coming from glaciers. We referred to this as peak, and we may be really witnessing the peak water at the moment.

 

 

After this peak water the amount of water there will be available will be less. So, we will have less water coming from the glaciers.

 

 

SYNCDaniel:  The year 2022 will be the worst year on the record that we’ve ever had from the glacier perspective. We had for one very little snow in winter, and, on top of that, we had a very warm summer. So, we double hit the glaciers. By first giving them very little snow and then giving them a lot of melt. That’s really the worst combination possible.

 

 

COM: Glaciers are retreating around the world. This is not just a Swiss problem.

 

SYNCDaniel: One of the regions that is losing mass at the highest pace is Alaska. Alaska have seen a dramatic increase in glaciers retreat and glaciers melt through the past two decades.  There are other regions, so think of the Andes in South America, or think of the entire Himalayas Arc.  Here we are going to watch a future where indeed critical situation could emerge.

 

 

SYNDaniel: For the future of the glaciers it is absolutely essential how much green gases will be emitted. Here are two scenarios. There is a scenario in which we are not able to abate emissions quickly. So in that case, you will witness Swiss Alps without glaciers by the end of century.

 

COM: The future is already happening in this part of Switzerland.

 

Due to rising temperatures the Rhône Glacier, one of the biggest tourist attractions and a source of business for the region, has been melting for several years.

 

Local businessmen are trying to stop the ice retreating by covering the Rhône with special sheets.

 

The white canvas reflect sunlight off the glacier to slow down its decay.

 

ACTUALITY

 

SYNCDaniel; What is going on here is that the melt water that forms higher up, it infiltrates through the glacier and generates the river, so the river then eventually will come.

 

Piotr: I think we can hear the river down there.

 

COM: The largest European rivers originate in the Swiss Alps.

 

Glaciers are their main water source and critically impact the condition of Europe's most important waterways.

 

SYNCDaniel:  So here at the Rhone glacier, we are at the very source of the Rhone River, which makes all the way through France into Mediterranean. Next to this mountain there is a source of the Rhine River, also of the Danube, and also of the Po. So, whatever lies downstream of those rivers; Germany, and the Netherlands, or Austria and other nations, they will feel the effect of this missing water from the very way top.

 

SYNCDaniel: The glacier is melting, and it is melting fast. So we get lot of water, which is able to counteract the potential droughts. But once you remove the glacier, well, in that case you won’t get any water if it doesn’t rain.

 

So certainly, the demand of water that we have will be potentially an issue: water that we use for irrigation, for drinking water and for industrial use.

 

 

HOLLAND

 

COM: The Rhine River originates in the Alps of central-eastern Switzerland.

 

It is the most crucial water highway in Europe.

 

For more than 600 miles it flows through six European countries and ends in the North Sea.

 

Holland’s Waal River is one of the main arms of the Rhine.

 

The country has struggled with water for over a thousand years.

 

Nearly one-third of the Netherlands is below sea level.

 

The fight against water taught the Dutch perseverance and ingenuity.

 

Henk Ovink is the first Water Ambassador in the Netherlands. Today he’s its global envoy.

 

He told me how the Dutch began to perceive water as an opportunity instead of as a threat.

 

SYNCHenk:  We are in Nijmegen, directly across the river from Nijmegen.

 

This is where we created one of the 39 projects as part of the “Room for the River” Programme. Programme that was developed to ensure and increase water security in the whole riverine system of the Netherlands.

 

SYNCHenk: We had too much water because we always tried to manage rivers. Sometimes these rivers are limited by our development.   The city of Nijmegen is just across and in the turns of the river, turns became too narrow, and with high water coming in from the south, from Germany and the Alps. There is a challenge of flooding.

 

 

COM: The water attacked with all its might in 1995. The Rhine and its tributaries overflowed their banks in most of Europe.

 

The Netherlands was flooded and forced to undergo the largest evacuation since World War II.

 

The flood radically changed the way the Netherlands came to manage their rivers.

 

SYNCHenk:  1995 was a wake-up call. We said: “Ok, we have to act”. And we came up with the plan “Room for the River”.

 

SYNCHenk: Here in Nijmegen is one of the most extraordinary examples because we created a second river.

 

NATSOTPN:  In fact, you’ve created like a bypass channel for flooding and you made more space for the river.

 

SYNCHenk: This is not just another bypass in the river, creating more room for the water. It is not about water, but it is about how water creates opportunities for better quality of life.

 

NATSOTPN00:05:07 From my perspective, this makes a kind of combination between a modern technology and the synergy with nature.

 

 

SYNCHenk: Nature should be our inspiration, but you shouldn’t forget intelligence of the people. It is a combination that can help us progress.

The river itself gave inspiration to rethink what the value of our river is in the context of water security.

 

Because we always thought, and across the world we see it, that when there is too much water you build a dam. It is like traffic. If you build another road there is more traffic. If you build another dam, it does not stop water. There is always need for the water to have room and rivers used to have it.

 

Across the world we see channelled rivers, you know, biting back at us by overflowing with a lot of casualties and economic impact.

 

SYNCHenk: We don’t understand anymore what we are doing. We are only engineering.  You have to go back to roots and in the roots it is nature and river.

 

 

RIVERS/DAMS/GLOBAL CONTEXT

 

COM: Today, only one-third of the world's rivers flow naturally. A result of our interference since we began to tame them.

 

Europe has one of the most fragmented river systems.

 

Over one and a half million barriers, many of them outdated today, are destroying European rivers and their ecosystems.

 

 

HOLLAND II PART

 

SYNCHenk: Dams themselves are not always a problem. But if we don’t look at them in this, you know, more comprehensive way, they become failing infrastructure of the past. Looking at rivers as living creatures is that actually you hold to the asset for sustainable development. Dams are not part of that future.

 

At the same time, also dams help us provide with clean energy, help us mitigate risks. So, smart damming in rivers in the best way possible can be part of the solution, but the dam as a single-focused piece of infrastructure of the past is not part of a sustainable riverine in future.

 

 

SYNCHenk:  Rivers are the arteries, livelihood streams of our societies and the economies for ages. But we started to treat them as only financial, economic assets.

 

SYNCHenk: It is not the way how we should treat rivers.

 

SYNCHenk: We don’t treat them like our fresh water resource. They are key to biodiversity, with that for climate mitigation and adaptation.

 

SYNCHenk:  90 per cent of those impacts are water related: with the floods that occur more frequently and became stronger, storms and hurricanes more frequently, and become stronger, sea level rise that is only increasing. And longer periods of droughts.

 

DROUGHTS EUROPE

 

COM: Summer 2022. Relicts from the past have emerged from the River Danube. A German ship from World War II.

 

The worst drought in Europe in 500 years has led to the lowest recorded water levels in rivers.

 

Long periods of high temperatures and lack of rainfall have affected two-thirds of Europe's rivers.

 

The drought turned the largest of them into small streams. Some dried up.

 

ODRA DISASTER SUMMER 2022

 

COM: Michał Zygmunt, a musician and artist, left the city several years ago and settled on the Oder River.

 

It is the second largest Polish river.

 

Michał has been involved in its protection for years.

 

He witnessed the tragedy on the Oder River in the summer of 2022.

 

NATSOTPiotr: What happened here?

 

SYNCMichał: It started with some small pieces of information coming from places where such things usually happen; Oława, the Gliwice Canal. The first signal that there are dead fish came from there.

 

COM: In the middle of Europe, drought, combined with excessive pollution contributed to an environmental disaster.

 

Just a few days after the first reports, the residents of the Oder region counted thousands of dead fish.

 

SYNCMichał:  At that time it was still a local affair. People called me seeking answers: "I don't know you. I got your number from someone. I wanted to ask if I can swim in the river, if I can walk my dog?"

 

They called the guy with the dreadlocks. They didn't contact any institutions because no one trusts them and believes them. The institutions have been unable to tell them anything until today. I remind you that I am a musician. It can’t be that the musician replaces the state.

 

SYNCMichał: We only saw the bellies of hundreds of tons of dead fish floating. But we didn’t see what was happening at the bottom of this river, in the bends, or in the oxbow lakes. But we already know that the molluscs and many other organisms that make up the entire complex ecosystem of this river also died. The natural, self-cleaning river is the best guarantor of our survival and of our healthy life.

 

 

COM: Only when the dead fish appeared in the Lower Oder, Polish Waters, the government’s institution responsible for water resources management, admitted for the first time that indeed a serious disaster had occurred.

 

The Polish Angling Association called the drama on the Oder: "The Polish Chernobyl".

 

A wave of criticism flooded the government. People blamed it for incompetence and inaction from the first days of the disaster.

 

SYNCMichał: The most important thing this catastrophe revealed to us is that people who live on the Oder River are the ones who count.

 

SYNCMichał: We clean the fish when the drama occurs. We fill the sandbags when a flood comes.

 

SYNCMichał: We, the residents of the Oder River, know what this river needs. It turns out that we, together with social organisations, often have much better research results, much better knowledge. And above all, the experience of living by the river rather than an official locked in a room somewhere far away in a big city, planning investments on the Oder River in Warsaw. And at the same time, no one invites us to debate what kind of river we want to have outside our windows.

 

 

COM: The Polish government blamed the disaster on a hydrological drought and the bloom of the so-called golden algae.

 

A European Union report stated that it was one of the greatest ecological disasters on the river in modern history and it concluded that human factors were most at fault.

 

The report warned of the risk of similar disasters in other European rivers, especially where rivers have been heavily transformed for the needs of navigation and industry.

 

It said that the Oder was dying for nearly 500 kilometers (310 miles) and 360 tons of dead fish were removed from it.

 

 

SYNCMichał: The institutions desert us. The plant that pours these chemicals into the river does not take responsibility, does not inform people when a chemical wave flows.

 

SYNCMichał: For years, people like myself, who kept saying that we should stop the ongoing degradation here, we were called eco-terrorists. And now, after this catastrophe, I ask myself, who is this eco-terrorist?

 

Perhaps the people who caused this disaster? People who operate within the limits of the law? Because it turns out that the law is ineffective.

The tragedy happened entirely in full view of the law, in the sense that you can't find the guilty party. No one has violated the law but our river is poisoned.

 

 

COM: Further degradation of the Oder continues.

 

The current government has announced the transformation of the river into an international water highway.

 

Vessels with a draft of more than two metres would sail on it.

 

Economists and scientists criticised the project and showed that the investment was unprofitable.

 

Naturalists, too, protested.

 

The Oder is a trans-border river, and NGOs in Poland and Germany also opposed the plans.

 

In March 2023, the Supreme Administrative Court ordered suspending the works on the Oder River.

 

The government's representative made it clear that he did not intend to obey the court's ruling.

 

 

SYNCMichał: Restoring navigation on the Oder is probably impossible. Anyone who watches this river closely, maybe not from an office building, maybe not from behind the glass of a big ship, but from here, will notice that the time has come that there is no water in this river.

 

COM: Although strongly transformed, the Oder still remains a special river. Its valley is a preserved habitat with species unique on a European scale. They are protected by Polish and EU laws.

 

SYNCMichał: We are in the riverside forest, in a place that is crucial for biodiversity and for the river’s functioning.

 

These vast stretches of riverside forests have their purpose: to serve as water reservoirs. They are one of the most beautiful things. And when I hear announcements that another concrete reservoir will be built, I laugh because here we have one colossal reservoir everywhere to store this water. You just have to let the water spill.

 

SYNCMichał: I think that talking about this river constantly in terms of profit, such as economic profit and business, is wrong.

 

NATSOTPN: I have the impression that you are an artist who lives by the river, observes it and lives with this river, yet you’re talking more like an activist then an artist. Why?

 

SYNCMichał: It is a question of simple responsibility. The fact that one day I will leave this river to my children, to the next generations, triggered an activist in me.

 

And at the same time, I remain an artist who is in love with these rivers, one who would like to show this magic, this incredible beauty, to fire people up, to show what this fight is really about.

 

 

ALBANIA- THE VJOSA RIVER. NEW MODEL OF NATURE PROTECTION.

 

COM: The threat of the devastation of Europe's last wild river awakened the activist spirit of a biologist from Albania.

 

Ten years ago, when the country’s government began implementing investments which would destroy the river, Olsi Nika took up an unequal fight to protect the Vjosa River.

 

His story resonated with the same arguments, passion and determination I found in people I met on my journey.

 

PN: 00:00:00 So this is the border point? And the second one is on the Greek side?

 

SYNCOlsi: The second one is on the Greek side, actually where the trees are. You can’t see it now. That is the border point. And this is actually the point where Vjosa starts its journey to the Adriatic.

 

NATSOTPN: What is so unique in this river comparing to other European rivers?

 

SYNCOlsi: It is kind of comparing a human being with a robot. People in Europe nowadays have just forgotten how river looks like, because they have heavily modified their rivers and regulated. I’ve visited some other rivers in Europe and in the Balkans and I’ve seen that: Man! It’s the huge difference. So, practically, there are canals, no living water is flowing there.

 

SYNCOlsi: Vjosa can really work as a laboratory, not only hosting biodiversity and all the ecosystems services, but most especially of the dynamic of the river.

 

This can be a reference point also for EU countries that are about to restore their rivers. They must come here to see how rivers look like.

 

 

COM: The government of Albania originally had a different view of the river’s potential. It designed the construction of 45 hydropower plants: 8 on the Vjosa River and 37 on its tributaries.

 

It would be a death sentence for nearly 187 miles of wild river flow and its unique ecosystem.

 

KALIVAC, SOUTH OF ALBANIA

 

COM: It is here where the government started the construction of one of the 8 planned hydropower plant dams.

 

SYNCOlsi: A 45-metres dam that was planned here, would be not only blocking water, but most importantly the sediments. And this should mean less water, and there is a loss of biodiversity because putting a dam in the middle of a river like this is like blocking the arteries in your body. You would expect a disease.

 

COM: The dam would have inevitably flooded a part of the Vjosa valley, destroying the lives of entire communities that lived here for generations.

 

 

SYNCOlsi: When we saw all this beauty being threatened by this beast, in a way, by this damned tsunami that is coming, then we thought: “OK, we should definitely get ourselves organised and do something. And that is how it started the campaign.

 

The scientists on one side, we have got involved celebrities from the local level up to Hollywood actors supporting us, we have got involved the lawyers and the local communities.

 

00:16:45. We have been present in almost all the villages, all the forgotten villages of Vjosa. Part of story is nobody was really informed that there will be a dam next to their door and they will have to be resettled, most of them.

 

 

COM: When the local activists gained a strong ally, the campaign for a free Vjosa gained momentum.

 

PIXS PATGONIA PROMO

 

Patagonia, a private company based in California that produces outdoor clothing and equipment, joined their efforts.

 

The company's support turned out to be crucial.

 

SYNCOlsi Patagonia has been engaged with the campaign since 2017, mainly supporting us in terms of networking and promotion.

 

SYNCBeth: Patagonia takes a back seat. We don’t care if they have our branding or what they do.  We are invisible. Our job is to support them, and there were a couple of really passionate people who were fighting for that river. We just sat down and listen to them and say: “What help do you need”?

 

SYNCOlsi: In 2022 Patagonia has interfered as a mediator between the civil society movement for the preservation of Vjosa and the government of Albania. So, it really is a trust builder, a bridge builder between these two parties.

 

COM: A new cooperation model emerged between business and activists for the river’s protection.

 

SYNCBeth:  There were European Banks, the European Development Bank was funding the building of dams on that river, which is madness. They were funding the destruction of nature, and so, we put a petition in place to stop that funding. And that turned out to be instrumental. Plus, the other thing we did was support with legal cases, trying to stop those dams from being built and blocking that river.

 

 

SYNCBeth: The forces that you are fighting against are enormous. There are big bankers, big money from around the world. There is a lot of people not understanding the situation, so why that dams might be bad. So it was a huge battle and very emotional. It was a long process.

 

COM: The people fighting for the Vjosa won their battle and the whole war.

 

In 2022 the Albanian government decided to create a National Park on the whole Vjosa River and its tributaries.

 

The Prime Minister of Albania promised that the Vjosa will not join the circus of domesticated animals that the European power system has become where rivers are: "Circus Dogs and Cats".

 

Patagonia became a partner of the Albanian government, and they will work together on the future design of the Park.

 

Olsi Nika, a biologist turned activist, believes that the ten-year struggle for the Vjosa River was worth every effort.

 

 

 

SYNCOlsi: What I would consider the big win in all this is changing the people’s mindset.  If you can change people’s mindset to really think the dams are really harmful for the environment, for our life, then you have won everything. Now, if you ask a local community that there would be a dam here, they immediately oppose it because they know now that there is something really bad for the environment and that they benefit almost nothing out of it.

 

 

SYNCOlsi: It is not only preserving the last big free-flowing river in Europe but it is giving the world the new model of caring about nature.

 

CANADA, MAGPIE RIVER LEGAL PERSONHOOD

 

COM: On the other side of the world, the people defending the river have taken their fight to a new level.

 

The Magpie River flows for 120 miles in the ancestral territory of the Innu people in eastern Quebec, Canada.

 

It is the main tourist attraction of the region.

 

For the Innu, the Magpie is a sacred river. They call her Mutuhekau Shipu.

 

SYNCUapukun:  For me, the river is my home. The element that heals me, gives me the strength to follow the once-chosen path of nature protection. I want to change the world, and I want to protect nature. For me, the river is life, and it's my motivation to live. She is everything.

 

SYNCUapukun: When I rowed and paddled the river, following the same routes my ancestors had followed, I was getting to know her.  This is how it all started. It was the beginning of my fight for the Magpie River.

 

COM: The Innu faced a formidable adversary.

 

Canada's Hydro-Quebec is the world's fourth-largest producer of hydropower.

 

Over a decade ago the company built a massive hydroelectric complex on the twin Romaine River.

 

The project forever changed the life of the indigenous community.

 

The Innu decided to fight back when Hydro-Quebec announced a plan to build a similar complex on the Magpie River.

 

 

SYNCRita: The Romaine River dams affected our lives. They affected our families, they divided our communities, and they divided our villages. People have changed. It was an immense pain for me to watch, together with my people, how the course of the river diverted and how everything was destroyed on that river. It also affected the salmon, our food and our freedom. It affected medicinal plants we use to heal ourselves.  I think the Romaine River was a great lesson because we saw a river without water.

 

 

SYNCRita: I couldn't let the same thing happen to Magpie Mutehekau Shipu. Because rivers surround us, they surround the Ekuanitshit community, and we need, we really need them for our health.

 

COM: The Innu did not stand alone in their fight.

 

Local activists, politicians and lawyers appreciated the importance of the river for their community.

 

Together they created an alliance. The Innu felt their strength in numbers.

 

A bold idea emerged.

 

SYNCYenny: All parties decided that the best way to protect the river would be to grant it legal personhood. We wanted to emphasise how the Inuit perceive the river. They treat the river as a person, as someone who has power. Or as an ancestor. In a word, a river is a person.

 

This perception of the river by the Innu was our basis. And the main challenge was to build solid solutions based on Canadian legal foundations.

 

COM: The politicians from the whole region supported the idea.

 

SYNCLuc: We passed a resolution to support the Ekuanitshit people, indigenous people, our neighbours and friends in protecting the river. We needed to keep the Magpie River in its natural state and pass it on to future generations in a state we could enjoy. These were the reasons why we joined the indigenous people in their fight to protect the Magpie River and our region. We focus on sustainable development, which will allow that what we see here today, what we enjoy, we can pass on to our children and grandchildren.

 

 

 

SYNCYenny: It is essential to understand that rivers as whole entities don't exist in law. The river is divided into water on one side, fish on the other, and plants as separate entities. The law treats all these entities as different and not as a whole, a perception that we introduce through granting legal personhood. Man has the right to freedom of expression, the river does not have such a right, but it has the right to flow freely. We ascribe to it the rights that belong to its nature.

 

Secondly, when we talk about an object in the light of the law, we can exploit the object. When we change the category to a person, we can't exploit it. It must be respected and protected.

 

COM: This is how the Magpie River will be treated.

 

As of 2021, the river has 9 rights, including the right to flow freely and the right to preserve its biodiversity. 

 

It became the first Canadian river to be granted legal personhood.

 

Appointed guardians will represent the river in courts.

 

PAUSE

 

Critics charged that the new status of the Magpie River is a threat to economic development across the region.

 

SYNCYenny: We don't want to slow down the economy. We want changes in the economy so that it considers the environment and its value. It is what this economy lacks.

 

We have destroyed the environment, and we have already killed many rivers on our planet. We can do better. We can approach nature with respect.

 

So there will no longer be a right to pollute. It would be rather an obligation to clean up.

 

SYNCLuc: People want to get rich, thinking that it will make them happy. The economy in Western societies is based on such a way of thinking. If we don’t shift our perception of development today, with the changes we see in our region and elsewhere, we will all perish.

 

SYNCRita: We do this for all humans and plants. Even a tiny pebble or rock is important.

 

Hydro-Quebec was the wall we really had to hit.

 

END THOUGHTS – WRAP UP CONTRIBUTORS

 

SYNCHenk: This partnership across indigenous communities, generations, the different sectors and silos in society can really help us step up. This combined perspective helps us develop solutions and pathways for the better future.

 

SYNCMario: It is a brilliant idea to grant legal personhood to the river. We would like this to be the first step, a provocation, so that other countries would follow, especially Italy.

 

SYNCVincenzo: Don't even dream about it. I can't imagine what the Sarno River would have to endure. Granting legal personhood to the river is a wonderful thing. It gives us an idea how extraordinary it is what these people and this organisation have done. It makes us realise how far behind we are as a country and culture.

 

 

SYNCMichał:  I will make a big effort for the Oder River so it can have such a future. We will achieve it as a society, according to what people expect. So, as I stand here, I promise that in 20 years this river will be a great nature reserve.

 

COM: Hydro-Quebec abandoned its project to build hydroelectric power stations on the river and stated that it did not intend to return to it in the near future.

 

CLOSING SEQUENCE RITA’S SONG.

 

SYNCRita: I sang a song for my Ekuanitshit community and myself, for my ancestors, and for the river's spirit to thank her for caring for us.

 

All the world's rivers are interconnected. They flow into the sea. This river connects with rivers in other countries. These are the veins of our mother earth. These are her veins. The rivers, water. This is our freedom. The water we drink, the water that washes us, that purifies us.

 

SYNCRita: We're never alone when we're with the river.

 

ENDLINE: This is our planet, these are our rivers and we decide.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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