We helped Patagonia spotlight this long-running environmental campaign driven by the work of Albanian NGOs.
Patagonia
Saving the last wild river in europe

Challenge
The Vjosa in Albania, one of the last wild rivers in Europe, was threatened with a series of hydropower dams. The river and its surroundings areas are home to over 1,100 animal species, including 13 assessed by the IUCN as globally threatened, along with two threatened plant species.
Patagonia used its platform and resources to support this long-running environmental campaign, leading to a unique collaboration between Patagonia, the Albanian Government, local and international experts, environmental NGOs from the Save the Blue Heart of Europe campaign and the IUCN.
Solution
We raised public awareness by engaging media interested in the environment and/or Albania to amplify the campaign.
Acting as Patagonia’s lead European agency, we took people from 14 media outlets to witness first-hand the Vjosa being officially declared a national park. The highlight of the trip was taking the group of journalists rafting down the river itself – helping them not only to see and hear why the river is so precious, but truly experience it.
As part of this we worked alongside the Albanian Government’s comms agency to manage logistics and press materials. We also handled multi-stakeholder engagement, inviting numerous NGOs to join us in Albania and be interviewed by our journalist attendees.
As a result of the campaign, the Vjosa will be conserved forever as a living, free-flowing river for the benefit of people and nature.
impact
3
important signatures – in March 2023, the Vjosa river was officially declared a National Park with Patagonia’s CEO signing the commitment alongside Albania’s Prime Minister and Minister for the Environment
1,100
species of animals (13 under threat globally), and two plant species under threat are now protected
143
miles of river are now protected
500+
pieces of coverage worldwide
£1m
impressions – the story was shared extensively through social channels and reached close to one million impressions as supporters of the campaign, including Leonardo DiCaprio and Jack Harries, shared it with their communities



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