The Rzav Environmental Association from western Serbia and the CEE Bankwatch Network, supported by the World Conservation Organisation WWF Adria, filed a complaint against the European Investment Bank (EIB), whose investment in two micro hydropower plants, as they said, had caused great damage to the Crni Rzav and Ribnica rivers in Serbia, WWF Adria said.

The complainant said those projects violate European national legal frameworks and the Council of Europe Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats.

The WWF Adria statement added that both plants were interconnected by the so-called bypass, taking water from two rivers.

The EIB finances the project with loans for small and medium enterprises and through priority projects of the financial intermediary Credit Agricole Srbija AD Novi Sad.

The investor is the company ‘Zlatiborske elektrane d.o.o,’ registered in the central town of Cacak, which planned to build a third facility, SHPP Peta.

The plants are located in western Serbia’s Nature Park’ Zlatibor’ area. Before their construction, no study was done on assessing the impact on the environment, which allowed those two micro-hydroelectric power plants to destroy 9.2 kilometres of river flow.

Adverse impacts with severe consequences for protected species in the area are also noticeable, as evidenced by the hydrobiological research conducted by WWF Adria in 2020.