SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — Environmental groups and activists have warned that unspoiled rivers in the Balkans are in danger from small hydropower plants that have been sprouting throughout the region.

A declaration they issued after a meeting Thursday in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo urged the governments of the Balkan countries to halt any further construction of hydro dams and reconsider any plans that could inflict damage on the environment.

Activists say that small plants are being built for profit without regards for the local community, while also inflicting lasting damage on the environment and destroying the previously untouched rivers and their eco-systems.

Just in Bosnia, participants say, there are plans to build 300 dams on 244 rivers. In the region, some 2,700 hydropower plants are envisaged in the coming years.