Patagonia launches the "Blue Heart" project to protect the rivers

In the Balkan peninsula between Slovenia and Albania, in a region known as the Blue Heart, 3,000 hydroelectric projects threaten to destroy the last wild rivers of Europe.

Patagonia joins local communities and nongovernmental organizations, led by RiverWatch and Euronatur, and launches the "Save the Blue Heart" campaign to raise awareness on the scale and on the long-term negative impact this has on environment.

The purpose? Put pressure on developers and foreign banks that are investing over 700 million euros to finance the construction of these dams, a third of which is expected within sensitive protected areas, including 118 in national parks.

"I believe this wild place requires and deserves protection" - explains Yvon Chouinard, former mountaineer and founder of the brand - "It’s a waste of money and a moral travesty that some of the world’s largest financial institutions have embraced this outdated and exploitative technology and are financing new dams in some of the last wild places in Europe. This is a fight too important to ignore".

If you want to know more, you can watch the documentary Blue Heart and, to stop financing the construction of these dams, sign the petition on the Patagonia official site.