Patagonia has launched the Blue Heart campaign, a website and petition urging international banks to stop investing in the destruction of Europe's last wild rivers. The name of the campaign refers to the Balkan rivers, an area known as the Blue Heart of Europe. The campaign raises awareness on more than 3,000 proposed hydropower projects in the region and the environmental repercussions if these projects go through. The company is joining with local communities and NGOs in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Macedonia to put pressure on the investors that are pouring more than €700 million to fund the dam-building projects. This figure has recently been suggested in a report by the Bankwatch Network, the largest network of grassroots, environmental and human rights groups in Central and Eastern Europe. Experts indicate that one third of the planned dams and diversions would affect sensitive protected areas, including national parks. Environmentalists fear that if local opposition fails, people will be displaced and the last undammed watersheds in Europe will be damaged for good. Patagonia's Blue Heart website features images of the Balkan rivers and explains some of the potential dangers of hydropower dams. Patagonia and its NGO partners are asking citizens around the world to sign the petition to stop the funding of these dams. Blue Heart is also the title of a documentary film as part of this campaign, which will launch in April.

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