Interview:
Peter Tranter
Photos:
Katja Jemec &
Balkan River Defence
Carmen Kuntz and Rok Rozman of Balkan River Defence
A chat with… Carmen & Rok of Balkan River Defence
River conservation is a huge subject, not just for those involved in paddlesports but for whole communities who depend on free flowing rivers. We had a chat with Carmen Kuntz and Rok Rozman of Balkan River Defence to find out how they manage to draw communities and NGOs together to fight for the protection of the Balkan’s beautiful river systems.
Before we start, let our readers know a little about yourselves, your background, etc.
Carmen: I grew up on the lakes and rivers of Ontario, Canada. My introduction to paddling was at a young age through canoe tripping with my family, and I started whitewater kayaking while working as a raft guide on the Ottawa River. I’m a freelance writer and whitewater kayaker living in Slovenia, and I co-manage the Slovenian river conservation NGO with my boyfriend, Rok.
Rok: I learnt to kayak on Slovenian rivers in high school and eventually started to explore the many rivers to the north (Austria) and south (the Balkans) and around the world. After retiring from professional rowing, I started the river conservation NGO Balkan River Defence as a response to the discovery that there were almost 3,000 proposed dams to be built on the rivers of the Balkans.
Why and when did you first become concerned about the threats to Balkan rivers?
Rok: My father is a fisherman, so I spent much of my childhood by the Sava River in Slovenia. I quickly fell in love with fishing and then later kayaking. I was in the water, underwater, on the water every day. The more rivers I paddled in the Balkans, the more horrors I saw – whole rivers reduced to a trickle or disappearing into a pipe – villagers without water to drink and the resources to fight the corruption building these dams.
Eventually, I had enough of listening to complaints about funding, organization and bureaucracy, and I decided to act. In 2016 I organized the first Balkan Rivers Tour, where we connected and kayaked in six countries – Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Macedonia, and Albania. We had more than 2,000 people from 18 countries participate, 502 of them on the water, and we spent 36 days on rivers threatened by dams. We ended the tour with a protest in front of the Albanian Prime Minister’s residence in Tirana, which was crucial in raising awareness and later stopping the construction of the destructive dam Poem on the Vjosa River.
Balkan Rivers Tour then evolved past just a ‘tour’ and has turned into a movement; Balkan River Defence.
What new life skills have you learned to conduct the successful defence of the rivers?
Carmen: I have learned that there is no limit to human greed and stupidity and that to help rivers, you sometimes first need to help city people see the river differently. I guess I have learned the skill of how to reframe something people take for granted – their local river – and present it from a different perspective. Sometimes that is showing them the beauty of their home river; sometimes, it’s showing (them through kayaking) that a river isn’t a terrifying element that needs to be tamed or avoided. And then let people make up their minds and take action themselves. We have tried to fight battles for people, but in the end, it needs to come from the locals. And if we have found that we can have some fun and use kayaks and media (film and photography) to do that.
Will the current energy crisis in Europe have a detrimental effect on your campaigns against dams?
Rok: It will because they are pushing hydro as the best ‘green’ energy source since it’s something they have been using for the longest time. Building new dams is the type of business where they can harvest the most money (through money laundering during construction and electricity production). But it sure doesn’t provide a solution to the problem. Instead of building new dams in Europe and around the world, we should be retrofitting old dams with new turbines that are way more efficient and produce more energy.
In many cases, the energy problems come from big industries that consume tremendous amounts of electricity and have outdated technology, like metal production. For example, in Slovenia, we have an aluminium production company that consumes roughly half of all electrical energy in Slovenia. Just two companies consume more electricity than all Slovenian households. And we are told the average household or person is the problem, which is not the case.
You motivate many paddlers to get involved in river conservation, but who motivates you?
Carmen: The individuals and villages working so hard, out of the spotlight and for the love of their river – inspire me. They are not using river conservation to get more likes on social media; they are fighting for their drinking water, lifestyle, culture, and kids. These are the kind of people who use their brains to think two steps ahead, who aren’t easily intimidated by threats. They are patient and relentless and play the long game like our friends in Romania, who we visited during Balkan Rivers Tour 4.
They didn’t sit around and complain that their river was being illegally dammed… they fundraised, got a lawyer, and fought since 2018 and just a few weeks ago (https://balkanriverdefence.org/news/romanian-basca-mare-river-is-saved/) announced that they won the court case and their stunning Basca Mare River is safe! This is how it’s done, and this is what inspires me.
How do you build trust between the local communities threatened by dams, NGOs and Governments?
Rok: It’s challenging because local people were always exploited by the government, ministries, and many NGOs. So you can only build trust on a personal level if they get to know you and your reasons for helping them. This makes it hard, but it’s great that these local communities are so sceptical about people wanting to help them. They are used to being taken advantage of and are wary, with good reason, when someone comes and offers them help. But after you have a few beers or sips of rakia with them, you can explain why we want to help and how we can help, and we become friends, and the ideas start flowing.
Do you and BRD have a particular focus at this moment?
Carmen: In 2020, we were forced to focus our activities more locally, which proved to be a blessing in disguise as we fixed our efforts on the Sava River, which runs from northwest to southeast Slovenia for 251 km, before flowing through Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia, joining the Danube in Belgrade Serbia. Although already dammed, the Sava has incredibly wild sections, home to rare fish, flora and fauna and an excellent playground for whitewater kayakers. Sadly, the Sava is currently threatened by plans for 10-12 new dam projects in Slovenia, which would destroy these beautiful sections of the river.
In the spring of 2021, we could finally execute Balkan Rivers Tour 5 (https://balkanriverdefence.org/brt-5/), and our tight crew of 4 kayakers (myself, Rok and our two buddies) paddled the entire Slovenian Sava for 11 days, camping along the way. During the descent, we sampled water for the environmental DNA (eDNA) study of the river and performed the first complete water bird census of the Sava River during nesting season. We now have two complete sets of data that we can use as ammunition to protect the river from dams.
Our BRD media crew followed the kayakers in a van and captured all our adventures and misadventures, but more importantly, we captured the essence of the Sava.
On June 1st, 2022, we premiered our 84-minute documentary film, One for the River: The Sava Story in Ljubljana, to a sold-out cinema, and the film will circulate to the international mountain film festivals in 2022 and 2023 before becoming available online.
Rok also wrote a kayaking guidebook for the Sava, the first of its kind in Slovenia. Currently, it’s available only in Slovenian, but we will have an English version ready in early 2023.
How do you try to influence decision-makers, and have your ideas changed over time where you have had to adapt?
Carmen: Yeah, for sure, our strategy has changed over time. We used to think protests and petitions would help, but now we can see that they don’t. Now, we are shifting our focus to show decision-makers that there is more value (in their eyes, money) in a free-flowing river through tourism than in a dammed one. And we are working to better equip and support locals to stand up and fight. We can’t be everywhere and fight every battle. But we can help support those fights and share with them different strategies.
In combination with this, we have figured out that the primary thing most decision-makers care about – at every level of government – is how many votes they can harvest from each decision they make. When the local people express concern about their river, this becomes leverage, even when there is pressure from investors and construction companies.
How is the Balkan Rivers Defence funded?
Rok: We are funded by two kayaking and two outdoor brands and from small donations from people who support what we are doing (Thank you!).
We also apply for grant funding, but it’s becoming increasingly difficult since our work has nothing to do with climate change, which is the focus of almost every nature conservation grant today. If they give you money, they get to tell you what to do, and we don’t work like that.
What can the everyday paddlesport enthusiast do to help your cause and spread the environmental message further?
Carmen: Look at your own backyard, get organized, and work together to stop unnecessary dams at home! Don’t look to us to solve every river conservation problem. Take some time to think, strategize, get to know the stakeholders and decision-makers, and use any applicable tactics we have used. You can apply for a small grant from Free Rivers Fund (https://freerivers.org), an awesome NGO that Rok co-founded in 2016. You don’t need to be a registered NGO; anyone can apply. They give out annual and emergency grants to everyday people (and some kayakers, although we always wish more kayakers were applying) who are fighting for their river.
And they operate based on donations from paddlesports brands.
Have you succeeded in receiving help from paddlesport companies?
Rok: From the very start, when it was hard and brands didn’t know what we were up to or what results we would have, we have had support from many fantastic outdoor and paddlesports brands. Our primary income to run BRD today comes from paddlesports brands, specifically NRS and Pyranha.
If you could head anywhere in the world to paddle, where would it be, and what appeals about that location?
Carmen: I’ve always wanted to paddle the Futaleufú River in Chile. If my two home rivers, the Ottawa River in Canada, and the Soča River in Slovenia, had a baby, I imagine it would be just like the Futa.
When preparing for a multi-day expedition in challenging conditions – what are the qualities you look for in a fellow teammate kayaker?
Rok: Somebody without an Instagram account who goes there to experience the river and knows how to hold their own when the going gets tough. Luckily, I know a guy like this, and I hope we get out on some missions soon.
What’s the most enjoyable encounter with wildlife you’ve had whilst paddling?
Carmen: On a canoe trip in high school, I canoed alongside a massive moose while it swam across a lake in Canada – just its huge head and antlers were out of the water!
Rok: We were kayaking on the Vjosa River in Albania in 2016, and an otter was floating around us and playing.
What would that be if you had to choose one last thing you wanted to achieve within WW paddling before giving it up?
Carmen: We don’t kayak to achieve anything; we kayak because it’s fun and feels good. I just want to keep enjoying my time in whitewater.
What’s the one river you haven’t paddled that would be on your bucket list?
Rok: I have one, but I won’t tell you which one.
What do you do when not kayaking and saving rivers?
Rok: Paragliding and fly fishing.
Carmen: Trail running and gardening.
Quickies…
Who would it be if you could paddle with anyone in the world, dead or alive?
Carmen: My grandpa.
Pick two celebrities to be your parents…
Rok: I don’t want parents that are celebrities.
Which famous person would you like to see playing you in a film?
Rok: Mel Gibson.
Are you a bathroom/shower singer, and if so, what do you sing?
Carmen: I would break the mirror if I started to sing in the shower.
Any fellow paddler you would like to interview and why?
Carmen: I already get to interview them all as a freelance writer:)
An ideal night out for you is?
Carmen: All-you-can-eat sushi.
What one luxury item would you take with you on a desert island?
Rok: A harpoon.
What would I find in your fridge right now?
Rok: Homemade deer salami.
What would you prepare for us if we came to your house for dinner?
Carmen: BBQ with a lot of meat and veggies from our garden.
If you could be a superhero for one day, what superpower would you choose and why?
Carmen: Breath underwater.
Rok: Fly without paraglider.
Favourite sports team?
Carmen: Bryce Mitchell, UFC.
Favourite film?
Rok: We don’t watch movies.
Any final shoutouts?
Big thanks to NRS and Pyranha, who are awesome and constantly support our crazy ideas and the river conservation work we do. And a shout out to anyone working hard – without any recognition or reward – to protect their river.
