It’s one of Europe’s last pristine rivers. Can scientists save it from 50 dams?

The Neretva, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, is one of the most biodiverse rivers on the continent - supporting bears, wolves, lynx and many rare species - but more than 50 planned dams could permanently transform the ecosystem

At the bottom of a ravine, near the mountain town of Ulog, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, lie the sparkling turquoise waters of the Ljuta, a tributary of the Neretva. In its upper stretches, the Neretva is one of Europe's most unspoiled rivers, and it appears to be a scene of pristine wilderness.

But lethal landmines left behind from the country's two-decades-old conflict litter its forested slopes, and wild dogs roam the trails. Poring over a map from the country's mine action centre, ecologist Gabriel Singer, a professor at the Institute of Ecology at the University of Innsbruck, assesses the safest route. Red and black lines indicating where mines lie mark both sides of the Neretva where it meets the Ljuta, leaving just one perilously steep slope navigable.