Oscar-winning actor Leonardo DiCaprio wrote a Facebook message directed to Bosnia's Federation (FBiH) authorities and to the local environmental activist Maida Bilal, urging the FBiH government and Parliament to pass a law permanently banning the construction of new hydroelectric plants.

The post came only days after Bilal had been awarded the Goldman Environment Award for succeeding in preventing the construction of small hydroelectric dam. She and other local women decided to block the planned construction site of a hydro plant on the Kruscica River in Bosnia and then guarded the site for more than 500 days before local authorities decided not to issue a permit for the project in December 2018.

“I congratulate the brave women of Kruscica and Ms Bilal from Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) on winning the prestigious Goldman Environmental Award for tirelessly fighting to save their river from small hydropower plants, facing armed police attack, intimidation and legal threats. This big victory comes as a result of a global activist campaign to ban new small hydropower plants in BiH. Unfortunately, these victories are not enough to save some of the last 240 rivers that flow freely in Europe from entering the concrete pipes,” DiCaprio said.

DiCaprio said that it is now crucial for the FBiH Parliament to adopt the pending Law on Electricity and to permanently ban the construction of hundreds of planned small hydropower projects, and also to revise all current permits.

“The Global Environmental Protection Community calls on the FBiH House of Peoples, led by Tomislav Martinovic, to take action immediately, present the bill to delegates and preserve the precious Bosnian rivers,” said DiCaprio, who has been a vocal supporter of environmentalist causes for many years.