Vardar/Axios: A River in Distress

The Axios (or Vardar) river originates in North Macedonia and drains in the Aegean, near the Greek city of Thessaloniki. The basin covers an area of more than 24,000 km2 and includes essentially the whole of North Macedonia and parts of Serbia, Bulgaria and Greece. Around two million people live in the area and depend on Axios/Vardar, making it a vital lifeline for both Greece and North Macedonia.    

The investigation discovered chaos in credentials in  North Macedonia, willful negligence, complete failure of the existing protection mechanisms, and abuse of European funds designed to protect the river.  In Greece, although chemicals in the watch lists are within EU limits, the environmental situation of the river is “poor, bad or moderate”. Our research identified a multitude of stressors ranging from diminishing water flows to man-made interventions and climate change, leading to a dangerous paradox: Although the values used as indicators are within EU limits, the actual ecological indicators of the river suffer, with fish and other flora and fauna in and around the river in distress or no longer existing.