Europe’s First Wild River National Park Is Here

What is a wild river? Have you ever seen one? A sinuous, sweeping movement of water braiding itself into the landscape in multiple meandering directions before ending at the sea, unfragmented by human-made structures trying to tame its flow: This is how a river is supposed to be, left alone to the constant process of emptying and regenerating itself. Rivers are supposed to be like Albania’s Vjosa. Only about one-third of the world’s large rivers are free from human impediments or channelization, and Vjosa is one of the last and largest in Europe. The Vjosa Wild River National Park, the first of its kind in Europe, is now here to protect that—what has been a dream of some for nearly a decade. And this new park will serve as an international example of how to do water conservation right.

A coalition of people—from civil society, business and government—have worked to come up with this new way to safeguard the Vjosa. The regulations will ensure the river remains free-flowing and help protect the 1,100 animal species, some newly discovered and 13 globally threatened, that live there. Not to mention looking out for 100,000 people whose livelihoods, culture and way of life have been tied to a wild Vjosa for centuries. If fragmented, the river itself and the species it hosts won’t be renewable. In the pursuit of taming, we’d destroy.