The River Sateska project in the Republic of North Macedonia has been at the centre of controversy, highlighting corruption, mismanagement, and systemic institutional failures in environmental governance. The Sateska River, which flows through the Ohrid Region—home to Lake Ohrid, a UNESCO World Heritage Site—was diverted into Lake Ohrid in the 1960s. This action contributed to severe pollution and ecological damage to the lake, one of Europe’s most biodiverse freshwater ecosystems. In response, a 2017 UNESCO Reactive Monitoring Mission recommended that the Republic of Macedonia explores options to redivert the Sateska to its natural bed. A subsequent mission in 2020 requested full restoration of the river.
With a signing date of October 22, 2019, the Integrated Climate-Resilient Transboundary Flood Risk Management (Drin FRM) project funded by the Adaptation Fund aimed to return the Sateska to its natural course to enhance climate resilience. If carefully implemented, this would also alleviate pressures on Lake Ohrid’s biodiversity caused by the river.
However, the project’s implementation has been marred by corruption and institutional failures, undermining its climate goals and potentially causing harmful ecological consequences. The conflicting goals and self-serving agendas of certain stakeholders – ranging from local authorities to international organisations – has raised serious concerns about the adequacy of the environmental impact assessment (EIA) and the legitimacy of the procedural processes behind the project.
Allegations of corruption and mismanagement
One of the central issues in both the Sateska re-routing and restoration projects has been the significant flaws in the environmental assessment. The EIA, intended to evaluate the project’s ecological impacts, contains large sections of plagiarised material. Key sections, such as the climate change analysis and discussions on water quality, were copied from outdated studies and present irrelevant data that fail to address current environmental concerns. This lack of original research and site-specific analysis not only undermines the credibility of the project but also exposes a deep level of negligence in ensuring that the environmental safeguards were met – which ultimately serves the project’s proponents.
Failure in oversight and regulatory compliance
The Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning, which was responsible for reviewing the EIA, failed to conduct an effective review, instead rubber-stamping the document without proper scrutiny. Public concerns raised by the environmental group Ohrid SOS during the consultation process were disregarded, with their comments mysteriously disappearing from official records. This lack of oversight by the Ministry allowed the project to proceed despite its significant flaws.
Furthermore, the Commission for the Management of the Natural and Cultural Heritage of the Ohrid Region, which is responsible for overseeing any major interventions that could impact the World Heritage Site, was bypassed. Macedonian law mandates that the Commission must be consulted on projects that affect the Ohrid region, but this requirement was ignored, further highlighting the institutional neglect and lack of due process. While the UNDP’s Social and Environmental Compliance Unit (SECU) conducted an investigation and confirmed many allegations, it failed to address the root causes of the corruption or recommend meaningful reforms.
Institutional corruption
The Municipality of Debrca issued construction permits for the Sateska project, yet it remains unclear whether they complied with legal requirements, such as conducting a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA). Similarly, the Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning failed to halt the project despite missing necessary documentation. This highlights systemic issues within local and national institutions, where powerful actors appear to have manipulated the system to bypass environmental regulations.
The mishandling of the Sateska project has eroded public trust in both Macedonian governance and international organizations like the UNDP and set back the implementation of UNESCO recommendations aimed at preventing further damage to the World Heritage Site. The failure to address corruption and procedural violations undermines environmental governance credibility, making it harder for citizens and environmental groups to rely on the government. The involvement of international bodies, such as the UNDP, has also raised questions about the effectiveness of their oversight mechanisms, as continued support for projects with such irregularities could damage their reputation and future success in implementing initiatives.
Together Transparency International and Transparency International-Macedonia published this case on worldwide Climate and Corruption Case Atlas, please see https://www.transparency.org/en/projects/climate-governance-integrity-programme/climate-corruption-atlas/corruption-and-environmental-mismanagement-in-the-river-sateska-re-routing-and-restoration-projects
Sources
- https://whc.unesco.org/en/documents/218170/
- https://secu.info.undp.org/sites/g/files/zskgke461/files/2024-08/SECU0021_North%20Macedonia_Final%20Investigation%20Report.pdf
- https://www.un-ilibrary.org/content/books/9789210479011/read
- https://ohridsos.org/threats/
- https://ohridsos.org/portfolio/ohrid-river-sateska/
