Green-blue worlds of wonder

“The Komarnica is a fantastic place”

Maybe it’s her love for her grandmother that has driven Jelena Popović to become a river conservationist. One thing is for sure: Jela Tadić is proud of her granddaughter. Together with Andrijana Mićanović, Jelena launched an initiative that has long since become a household name in Montenegro. More and more people want to be part of the “Save Komarnica” movement. If she were just a few years younger, Jelena’s grandmother would certainly be getting involved too. Jela Tadić has experienced first-hand what it means to lose her home to a hydropower project. She was living in the old village of Plužine on the banks of the Piva River when the Montenegrin government had a dam built there in the 1970s. Jela's world was drowned in a reservoir, her entire village relocated. With the construction of the hydropower plant, the river became a source of pain from which the 88-year-old has never recovered. “We lived in paradise,” she often tells Jelena. “In the Piva we caught fish, with its water we quenched our thirst and watered our fields.” It's the reason why, every time Jelena visits, her grandmother asks: “Jelena, have you saved the Komarnica yet?” This river, too, is now set to be dammed, not 50 kilometres upstream from where those dramatic events on the Piva took place.

At first we were all alone

When Jelena Popović and Andrijana Mićanović talk about their initiative, it quickly becomes clear that, for them, this is about more than just one river. This is about the importance of nature itself in Montenegro. Jelena is softly spoken, but the young woman is treading the rocky path of environmental activism in Montenegro with steely determination. “Andrijana and I are very moved by the story of the Komarnica because we are biologists and this river is a fantastic place from an ecological point of view. Shortly after we graduated, there was a real boom in the destruction of nature, which is continuing to this day. When we heard about the planned reservoir on the Komarnica, there was no one else who would have fought for this river. That is when we started Save Komarnica”. At first, it was just the two of us and one other biologist. Fortunately, things have changed since then,” says the now 30-year-old.

The plans for the reservoir were nothing new; they originated back in the 1970s. Decades later, the Montenegrin government decided to resurrect them. In 2019, Andrijana and Jelena mobilised support from the Montenegrin Society for Ecology - where they are both employed today - along with two other national NGOs (KOD and the Society of Young Ecologists from Nikšić). Together, they filed a complaint against the hydropower project on the Komarnica with the Secretariat of the Bern Convention.

Protest camp generates positive energy

The “Save Komarnica” initiative is about developing the region in harmony with nature - something which Jelena, Andrijana and their fellow campaigners drew attention to at the beginning of May 2023. For the second time, a protest camp was held on the Komarnica. Unlike the previous year, participants came not just from Montenegro, but from a total of 17 countries, including Germany, Poland, the Netherlands, many of the Balkan states, and even the USA. In total, more than 400 river enthusiasts, conservationists, artists, scientists, kayakers, climbers and others gathered on the Komarnica. They researched and explored the rich biodiversity of the Komarnica Canyon, experienced the river landscape by boat, or took part in photo tours and attended workshops on sustainable agriculture in the region. “A lot of activists from other initiatives came to our protest camp to support us. In return, we gave them the opportunity to showcase their own campaign themes. We shared our experiences, encouraged and strengthened one another,” explains Andrijana. “It is good to feel that we are no longer alone,” she says. 

And how did local people react to the protest camp? “Unfortunately, many local residents are in favour of the reservoir. They believe the representatives of state-owned companies who are promising them jobs and new roads. With the protest camp we wanted to show people how valuable the river is, as long as it is allowed to flow freely - and just how much they would lose with the reservoir. People came from all over the world to see the Komarnica. We showed the local population how this can generate income. People taking part in the camp were accommodated by local hosts and provided with locally produced food,” says Jelena.

Applause for the Komarnica

The protest camp was brought to a close with a bang. “I was sceptical at first about whether we should put money into organising a concert. But when the time came, I knew immediately that it was the right decision,” remembers Andrijana. Darko Rundek, a popular and well-known musician in Montenegro and other Balkan countries, performed with his band in Šavnik - one of the places that stands to be massively affected by the Komarnica dam. For years, he has supported the “Save the Blue Heart of Europe” campaign and uses his concerts to draw attention to the beauty, and to the threats, facing the free-flowing rivers of the Balkans. “Darko Rundek played on the central square in Šavnik, flanked by the Komarnica and the Bukovica. The atmosphere was fabulous and you could feel the positive energy,” says Jelena. “The locals were as surprised as they were enthusiastic. They experienced for the first time how their city attracted flocks of visitors. When we said we wanted to save the Komarnica, the audience applauded. There was a lot of media attention for days after the camp.”