the plans to build as many as 14 hydropower plants along 30 km of Valbona River, 8 of them wholly within the National Park. The procedure and content of the projects’ environmental impact assessments demonstrate non-transparent decision making, disregard for local communities’ well-being and indifference towards high conservation value ecosystems, including a complete disregard of the fact that the development is occurring in a protected area. Even though issuing of permits for such activity is illegal on protected areas, the government has backed down from revoking licenses citing expensive legal recourses which it can’t afford to pay to developers. On the other side, local activists are organizing various awareness campaigns called Don’t Touch My Valbona' (Mos ma prek Valbonen in Albanian) to pressure authorities to stop the construction of the plants which are well under way along a section of Valbona River. Gallery See also Geography of Albania Protected areas of Albania Biodiversity of Albania Albanian Alps Dear Albania References Dinaric Mountains mixed forests Forests of Albania Geography of Kukës County National parks of Albania Primeval Beech Forests in Europe Tourist attractions in Albania Tourist attractions in Kukës County