The destruction of rivers on the sunny side of the Alps just for the sake of lucrative business and how we want to end this nonsense; the Sava River, becoming known to thousands of people; our first collaboration with amazing musicians and printing the first book about Soča from its source and the sea. At the end of the year, it’s time to take stock. Ours goes like this:
We devoted most of our attention in 2024 to Slovenian rivers, because they have so many problems – dealing with them takes up time that we would otherwise have devoted to helping the beautiful rivers south of us.
Since, among the general public, the understanding of the importance and especially the function of rivers is still severely undernourished, we devoted a lot of time to the production and distribution of films and content that try to show rivers and our inevitable relationship with them in a comprehensible way. Right at the beginning of the year, we were excited to receive the news that our short film Rods, Rolls & Reality on the Soča was accepted into the program of the largest fly fishing festival in the world – Fly Fishing Film Festival (F3T). The film, which is is simultaneously a comedy, educational and nature conservation film, traveled throughout North America and Europe with the festival as part of more than 300 events, spreading the message that humans are part of nature and simply need it preserved – not because of some nature conservation whim, but for survival.
Soon after, our more recent feature film saw its television premiere. One for the River – The Sava Story was broadcast on Slovenian National Television (TVS 1) and achieved impressive reach. In this way, even people who do not have the opportunity, time or will to paddle all 251 km of the Slovenian Sava themselves, got to know its hidden corners and now have at least a little more insight into what is on the table with the still current proposal for 12 new hydroelectric power plants. In total, the film about the Sava was seen ‘live’ by more than 11,000 people at 120 events, 35,000 Slovenians saw it via TV sets, and it was awarded at 13 international film festivals.
As the promotion of hydropower has become more and more intrusive, aggressive and full of lies, we decided to (finally) release a parody video on this topic. This five minute skit shows the fictional director of Hydroelectric on the Lower Sava (HESS), showing how things really are.
The early spring in Slovenia brought some painful insights. The lack of leaves of the riparian vegetation, where it existed at all, exposed the actions of state institutions (and the private companies directly connected to them), who ‘watch’ over the rivers. We all knew that last year’s high water events would be followed by a reconstruction phase, but it was hard to imagine the necessary post-flood reconstruction would be anything but a scene for a business. Increasing flood safety or following the basic directions of nature-friendly measures had no place in it. With an abundance of money from the national and European budgets, the largest systematic and unnecessary destruction of rivers in the history of Slovenia country began. The government, with its ministries and directorates, trampled over legislation, common sense and healthy ideas. The banks of rivers and streams of the entire country of Slovenia were very quickly and effectively becoming bare, leveled and filled with concrete and stone embankments. The warnings of hydrologists, ecologists, ichthyologists, geologists and limnologists fell on deaf ears, because those who distributed the money listened only to those who got the money in exchange for extremely reckless interventions. All major nature conservation NGOs watched silently and did not dare to stir into the hornet’s nest, as this would bring a painful sting, and certainly the loss of government funding, which of course they could not afford. In spite of everything, BRD could not remain silent as we watched daily the destruction of watercourses, taxpayers’ money and people’s safety. We responded by creating a citizen-fed database – a collection of interventions in watercourses – which was fortunately well received. In just a few weeks, we managed to obtain concrete information from throughout Slovenia, (photographs, exact locations, descriptions of the works carried out, etc.), about the controversial interventions, displaying it on our website with an interactive map. This attracted the attention of the media, (and indirectly) of the government and the ministries as well. Not long after, a minister appeared in the National Assembly with a list of the entries citizens made on the BRD website, and admitted the wrongdoing and promised that it would be different in the future.
Of course, he did not keep his promise; throughout the whole year, the extremely thoughtless, sinfully expensive and ineffective reconstruction continued, which was given a negative assessment by the first moderately high waters, which opened the eyes of a growing number of people, who up until then defended techniques of encroaching on the river space that had survived a long time ago. The pressure from the public was increasing, but it did not reach the pressure from the contractors who are filling their pockets from these reconstruction efforts, so it was necessary to react more seriously. We thus spent most of the autumn drafting a well-argued and evidence-supported complaint to the European Commission. It will be interesting to see what happens in the coming months, but hopefully someone will finally put a stop to those who are pushing to destroy every last meter of the county’s rivers.
In order to stay sane while battling giants, we also took on some more constructive – and above all creative – projects. One of these was filming the performance of the extraordinary musical group Bakalina Velika from Čadrg, who joined forces with Etno Histeria World Orchestra to play the song written by Bakalina called Suoča live on the banks of the Soča; a song that is a true tribute to the emerald beauty. As a sign of our future collaboration in creating a feature film about Soča, we enthusiastically contributed footage of the performance and exceptional nature and wildlife shots for the video of the song Suoča. You are invited to experience the song with your ears and eyes here.
Throughout the year, we also worked to materialize an idea that had been brewing for a long time; the production of a paddling guidebook for the entire Soča River. The main motivation for this book was the awareness that the upper reaches of the river are being overrun with tourism pressure, and at the same time the observation that more and more of its visitors do not know the simple unwritten rules of behavior that enable us to continue enjoying activities on this beautiful river. Last winter we set about mapping all 138 km of the Soča and creating fifteen stages, which will enable users of the guidebook to get to know this extraordinary river in its entirety, not just its most popular spots. At the first window of fairly good weather, in early May, with rich water levels strengthened by melting snow, we walked and paddled the distance between the source and the sea. With the same team who took part in the descent of the entire Slovenian Sava from which we created a paddling guidebook in 2022, this time got the chance to get to know the Soča. The entire descent was documented by our photographer Rožle Bregar and videographer Matic Oblak, and as soon as we paddled into the salt water of the Adriatic, the arduous process of creating the book began, which pulled us out of our kayaks and put us in front of computer monitors for many months. After overcoming many challenges, the book – which is available in three languages (Slovenian, Italian and English) and is a 216-page hybrid between a monograph and a paddling guidebook – was sent to print just in time. The guidebook premiered at BOFF in Bovec at the end of December, where it began its journey among people. Many more book presentations will follow in the coming weeks and months in both Slovenia and Italy, and you are invited to attend any of them, or inquire about the brand new book here: www. balkanriverdefence.org/soca-isonzo.
So, the situation is anything but rosy, but as long as common sense and preserved rivers give us joy, bread, peace and happiness, we will persevere and try to hinder those who want to destroy them all, right to the last tributary. You are always invited to help us in one way or another!
Let’s hope the rivers will still flow downstream in 2025 and thereby impress or terrify the ones who are tailors of their destiny.
Thank you to everyone who supported our actions and operations in the past year, and good luck!
