From Convention to Action – 25 Years of the ICPDR The Flow Leading the region in water management Since its creation, the ICPDR has brought To date, 24 organisations hold observer together representatives from the highest status – representing private industry and ministerial levels, technical experts, and intergovernmental organisations – and of Cooperation members of civil society and the scientific through this status, cooperate actively with community to continuously improve the the ICPDR. state of the Danube River Basin water bodies. Through the Danube Declarations of 2004, Early river agreements Bringing the basin together A legal framework The ICPDR today 2010 and 2016, the Danube countries A history of the ICPDR Experts guide the work of the ICPDR on: have continued to cooperate ever-more As early as 1616, the Danube was After World War II, new East-West political In 1991, the countries created the Environ- The ICPDR is now the largest international closely. • River Basin Management a keystone in negotiating peace, when alliances called for a new approach mental Programme for the Danube River body of river basin management experts • Pollution Control • Ensuring naturally balanced waters There is a long history of transboundary cooperation an Austro-Turkish treaty signed in in river management. The Danube River Basin to support national actions to protect in Europe, with a mission to promote • Water Quality free from excess nutrients Belgrade granted Austrians the right to Conference was held in Belgrade in 1948, the river basin. Under the programme, and coordinate sustainable water manage- in the Danube Basin, and scholars of international • Public Participation and • Preventing risks from toxic chemicals navigate the middle and lower Danube. and shifted control of navigation from countries agreed to adopt a shared ment for the benefit of all people of the Communication • Preserving healthy and sustainable law often identify the Danube Basin as the region where the non-river powers to the exclusive control environmental monitoring system, address Danube River Basin. • Information Management and river systems international organisations first evolved. The 1856 Treaty of Paris, settling of each country. liability for cross-border pollution, protect Geographic Information Systems • Managing reduced damage from floods the Crimean War, created the first – and wetland habitats and conserve areas Under the ICPDR, the Danube countries – for many years the only – international Recognising the increasing degradation of together with the European Union – • Safeguarding Danube resources of ecological importance. Environmental protection is a community body with significant powers on the water quality, the eight (at that time) cooperate on fundamental water for future generations. responsibility, and the active involvement of Danube. The European Commission of countries along the Danube River signed The Convention on Cooperation for the management issues. Although the ICPDR the public was one of the core principles the Danube, made up of Danube countries the Declaration of the Danube Countries Protection and Sustainable Use of the Danube contracting parties are a mix of EU Member of sustainable water management as Did you know? along with major shipping powers such to Cooperate on Questions Concerning the River (Danube River Protection Convention) States and Non-Member States, all have acknowledged by the Danube River Protection The Danube passes as Great Britain and France, guaranteed Water Management of the Danube was signed on June 29, 1994 in Sofia, committed themselves to meeting the Convention when it was signed in 1994. through several large cities freedom of commerce and navigation (Bucharest Declaration) in 1985. Bulgaria, by eleven of the Danube Riparian requirements of the EU Water Framework including four national along the Danube River for all European States – Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Directive. This commitment was capitals: Vienna, Bratislava, countries. The East-West political division of the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Moldova, augmented by the EU Floods Directive Budapest and Belgrade. Cold War cut the Danube Basin in two and Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine, in 2007. The ongoing goal of the ICPDR is to implement the Danube severely constrained information sharing as well as the European Community. N River Protection Convention and make it a living tool to coordinate and transnational data exchange. In 1989, NW Serbia, then in union with Montenegro, NE sustainable and equitable water management, including the fall of the Iron Curtain transformed joined the Convention in 2003, Bosnia and geopolitical conditions on a global scale conservation, improvement and rational use of waters for the Herzegovina in 2005. After seceding from W with countries and frontiers reshaping Serbia, Montenegro became the 15th ICPDR E benefit of the Danube River Basin’s countries and people for many across Europe. contracting party in 2008. years to come. SW SE S 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 29 JUNE 1 JANUARY TransNational Accident 22 OCTOBER ICPDR 23 OCTOBER Danube River Austria achieves Monitoring Emergency Danube River Secretariat EU Water Protection Convention accession to the Network Warning System Protection Convention is established at the Framework Directive (DRPC) is signed by European Union (TNMN) starts (AEWS) first comes (DRPC) UN in Vienna; (WFD) is adopted eleven of the Danube into operation comes into force ICPDR Expert Groups Riparian States and the start regular meetings European Community Excessive amounts of nutrients enter Changes to the river’s structure the river from agricultural fertilisers, thus for navigation, hydropower or flood defence The Faces devastating fish stocks and clogging the can reduce flow rates and/or interrupt water with algal blooms. Industrial accidents natural sediment transport as well as the or floods flush hazardous and toxic migration routes of animals. of the River substances directly into water bodies. Shared resources mean shared responsibility Living and working in the Danube River Basin Everyone shares responsibility for the river. The Danube countries – along with the EU – Did you know? are working together under the ICPDR One of the very earliest forms of writing (some historians People have been living along the Danube Later, the Danube formed the northern to help restore the waters of the basin and even claim the first) anywhere in and its tributaries since even the earliest border of the Roman Empire, and was used safeguard them for future generations. the world was created along human settlements – attracted by as a transport route for troops as well the Danube River by the Vincˇa culture, and included about the region’s rich diversity of plants and as supplies for settlements downstream. 700 characters and symbols. animals, fertile land and strategic Ways to get involved geographic position. Originating over Each group of people who have come Everyone has a say. Public participation • Danube Day 7,500 years ago, the Vincˇa culture existed to the Danube Basin have made an impact programmes allow all of the Danube • Danube Art Master along the Danube River even predating on the region through their traditions, Basin’s residents to make their voices • Danube Box civilisations in Mesopotamia or Egypt. beliefs and knowledge. At the same time, heard and get involved for their waters. • Danube Watch Many of its innovations – in writing, they have also been influenced by the • Information events farming and copper metallurgy – are some cultures already living in the area, and the • Public consultation of the earliest examples of technological river itself has inspired a wide range • Social media advancements, not just in Europe but of artists. in the world. Human uses of the Danube For centuries the Danube River has played a role in Today, over 80 million people in 19 countries call the • Drinking water • Agriculture Human impact on the river’s status the political, cultural and socio-economic development Danube River Basin home, and their lives are connected • Energy • Fisheries However, the actions of people in the Inadequately treated wastewater ends of the region. This shared resource has created region affect the status of the river and its up in the Danube, putting the drinking • Transport • Tourism through their dependence on the waters and resources ecosystems, leading to serious problems water supply of millions of people at risk, a history of cooperation that inspires others around of the region. • Industry • Recreation for water quality and quantity, as well as and leading to problems for irrigation, the world. a critical loss of biodiversity. industry and fishing. 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 First Joint ICPDR’s Flood Serbia joins 1st Danube Day Bosnia & ICPDR Expert EU Floods Directive Danube Survey Protection Expert the Danube is held on 29 June; Herzegovina Groups on Public (FD) is adopted; (JDS) is carried out; Group (FP EG) River Protection 1st Danube Basin joins the Danube Participation and “Joint Statement on Danube Watch is established Convention Analysis adopted; River Protection Information Management Inland Navigation and magazine is relaunched Czech Republic, Hungary, Convention & GIS are established; Environmental Sustainability Slovakia and Slovenia education toolkit in the DRB” concludes; join the EU Danube Box is launched ICPDR wins Thiess International Riverprize Did you know? The Danube River Basin Committed to the has