The two dams Molve I+II are planned by Croatian Electric Company (HEP) along 30 km of the Drava in Croatia in the area between Botovo and Ferdinandovac. The whole river in Croatia is protected as part of the Regional Park “Drava-Mura”, the Transboundary UNESCO Biosphere Reserve “Mura-Drava-Danube” and by several Natura 2000 sites.
Naturally, modifying such a long river stretch will have massive environmental impacts in the whole area and also further downstream. For example, a majority of important habitats such as gravel bars, steep banks or wetlands would be destroyed. Furthermore, animal species would suffer; especially fish migration routes would be fragmented. The little tern will extinct as this river section is home of the last few specimen along the entire Drava river. Lastly, river morphology would be heavily impacted on, as this is the case with all hydropower dams. Sediment transfer would stop due to the dam which degrades the river morphology, causing erosion of the riverbed downstream, which in turn lowers the groundwater water levels.