Hungary sludge plant ‘still a threat’, says Greenpeace

Posted on February 8, 2011 by Paul Stewart

The BBC

Waste water from a Hungarian aluminium plant still contains toxic chemicals that threaten a local river, despite a big clean-up there, Greenpeace says.

The international environmental group has urged the EU to put pressure on the Hungarian government immediately to stop the “constant pollution”.

Ten people died last October when red sludge poured from one of the plant’s reservoirs into a nearby village.

Officials could not be reached for comment on the latest water analysis.

Greenpeace took water samples at six points along a waste water channel, which feeds into a stream called the Torna. The Torna is part of a river system that flows into the Danube.

The village worst hit by the disaster - Kolontar - is only 45km (28 miles) from the Danube.

‘Threat to humans and nature’

A Greenpeace Hungary campaigner, Balazs Tomori, said the samples taken on 26 January were sent to two independent labs for analysis - Balint Analitika in Budapest and Vienna’s Environmental Protection Agency.

He said the waste water came from reservoir 10 - the one that burst last October - and 10a, a smaller reservoir used to hold some of the toxic waste after the disaster.

“The EU Commission has to intervene with the Hungarian government immediately to stop this threat to humans, animals and nature,” Mr Tomori said.

The aluminium company, MAL AG, denied liability for the accident last year at the Ajka plant. Since the disaster it has resumed production there.

The BBC’s Nick Thorpe, who reported from the stricken area last year, says the Hungarian government wants to save the company and the 1,300 jobs at Ajka.

But it is also true that the government has been a sharp critic of the company’s environmental record.

The clean-up has been generally regarded as a success, and most local people who fled the sludge have gone back to the area, our correspondent says.

Alarming data

The tests at Vienna’s Environmental Protection Agency showed 1,300 micrograms of arsenic per litre in the waste water samples. Austria’s corresponding safe limit is set at 100 micrograms.

The aluminium content was found to be 200,000 micrograms per litre - 100 times above the legal limit, Greenpeace reported.

The amount of organic carbon in the water was also far above the legal limit.

Last year huge quantities of gypsum and chemical fertilisers were added to the waters of the Marcal and Raba rivers, to lower the dangerously high alkaline levels in the toxic red sludge.

A state body, the Central Danube Water Management Authority, has been continuously monitoring the water chemistry since the disaster.

Source

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Priority area coordinators for EU Danube Region Strategy announced

Posted on February 8, 2011 by Paul Stewart

ENPI

The European Commission has revealed which countries and regions will lead priority areas of cooperation under the EU’s Strategy for the Danube Region. A Commission press release said the announcement pinpointing the ‘priority area coordinators’, including Moldova and Ukraine, was made on 3 February in Budapest by Commissioner for Regional Policy Johannes Hahn.

In order to “drive implementation” of the Strategy within its eleven priority areas, these countries and regions are expected to agree a work programme and identify sources of finance with other countries involved as well as partners such as non-governmental organizations, the press release said.

“The Strategy brings a new and ambitious dimension to cooperation in the region By focusing on the most important issues, such as mobility, energy, pollution, innovation, jobs and security, I am convinced that the Strategy will make a real contribution to building a better future for this part of Europe,” Commissioner Hahn said prior to the announcement.

The Danube Strategy focuses on the following four pillars:

Connecting the region (improving mobility, boosting sustainable energy and promoting culture and tourism);

Protecting the environment (restoring water quality, managing environmental risks and preserving biodiversity);

Building prosperity (developing research capacity, education and information technologies, supporting the competitiveness of enterprises and investing in people’s skills);

Strengthening the region (stepping up institutional capacity and improving cooperation to tackle organised crime).

According to the press release, Moldova (together with Austria) will lead the priority area that will focus on investing in people and skills, while Ukraine has expressed interest in working on transport mobility, in particular on improving rail, road and air transport in the region.

The Strategy also involves Germany (Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria), Austria, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro.

Source

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EU Strategy for The Danube

Posted in Austria, biodiversity, bosnia, bulgaria, Conservation, Croatia, culture, czech republic, Germany, governance, heritage, Hungary, montenegro, romania, Serbia, slovakia, slovenia, The Danube River, tourism, transportation, Travel, world water | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Croatian plan to turn rivers into channels results in protests to EU

Posted on February 4, 2011 by Paul Stewart

WWF

Zagreb, Croatia: Newly unveiled plans which would turn the Danube and Croatia’s other rivers into little more than regulated canals have been protested to the European Union by WWF, Croatian NGOs and EuroNatur.

The plans, released by the Croatian Water Management Authority run counter to European water and environmental regulations – and potentially throwing up obstacles to Croatia joining the EU.

The proposed river regulation projects along the Danube, Drava, Mura, Sava and Neretva Rivers would transform many natural meandering river stretches into a unified canal, fixed by stones, groins and embankments.

In defiance of the EU Water Framework Directive, the Danube Strategy and the Danube River Basin Management Plan, about 440 km of natural river stretches of the Danube and Sava rivers could be regulated and destroyed, damaging Europe’s largest floodplain forests and wetland areas. Also under threat would be endangered species such as the Little tern, White-Tailed eagle, Otter and Sturgeon.

“We are very much concerned that new planned river regulation projects along all major rivers in Croatia are threatening unique natural areas and counteracting efforts of the EU to bring water management in line with EU policy and law”, said Arno Mohl, Freshwater Expert at WWF Austria. “Specifically, we are concerned about the planned large-scale river regulation schemes, sediment extraction and irrigation projects along the Danube, Drava, Mura, Sava and Neretva Rivers”.

A delegation of Croatian NGOs , WWF and EuroNatur handed over a protest letter to Ambassador Paul Vandoren, Head of the EU Delegation in Zagreb, addressed to EU Environment Commissioner, Janez Potocnik and EU Enlargement Commissioner, Stefan Füle, expressing their deep concern about the new regulation projects planned by the Croatian Water Management Authority.

“These are river management plans of last century,” Arno Mohl said. “European river authorities are suggesting ecologically more acceptable methods of river management that leave more space for the rivers. They are doing this because we now realize that a naturally functioning river not only has more life than a canal, but it also provides natural mechanisms to better deal with droughts and floods.”

The regulation plans

“The regulation plans are the biggest attack on Croatian and European natural heritage since the country became independent. The ongoing resistance of the Croatian Water Management Authority to follow common European values and standards is unacceptable. We urge the EU Commission to help stop this old fashioned way of river management and urge the Croatian government to impose a moratorium on these plans”, say the NGOs.

Given the ongoing resistance of the water management sector of Croatia to find an appropriate strategy for the development of the rivers, the NGOs have asked the European Commission to immediately urge Croatia, respectively the Water Management Authority to:

Refrain from taking any further decisions or steps in the implementation of these projects and to impose a moratorium on these river regulation, sediment extraction and irrigation projects.

Initiate a round table between all relevant stakeholders to discuss and review current projects and practices and find sustainable alternatives in line with Croatian and EU law.

According to official information from the Croatian government and statements from different European officials, Croatia has reached the final stage of negotiations on accession to the European Union. As part of this process, Chapter 27 (Environment) has been provisionally closed during the last pre-accession conference in December 2010.

“We believe that fulfilling EU environmental obligations is a condition for Croatia’s further integration into the EU – and ultimately for EU accession”, Arno Mohl said.

More about current river management practice in Croatia

Dates back to the socialist times of former Yugoslavia and is in clear contradiction with the principles of sustainable development and environmental protection of the EU.

Contravenes EU environmental legislation (including the Water Framework Directive, the Habitats and Bird Directives) and Croatian environmental law (Nature Protection Act).

Threatens European endangered habitats and species within proposed Natura 2000 sites and leads to the deterioration of the “ecological status” of river ecosystems.

Endangers well preserved river ecosystems, wetland areas and alluvial forests, including protected areas and wetland areas of international importance (Ramsar sites) in Croatia.

Source

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Danube hosts Europe’s biggest winter swim carnival

Posted on January 29, 2011 by Paul Stewart

NEUBURG AN DER DONAU, Germany (AFP) – More than 1,700 people braved the frigid waters of the River Danube Saturday for Europe’s biggest winter swim carnival, a colourful German tradition now in its 42nd year.

Participants slid gingerly into the water, a bracing 2.5-degrees Celsius (36.5 degrees Fahrenheit), and set off toward the finish line in the southern German town of Neuburg an der Donau four kilometres (2.5 miles) down river.

Many let out an exhilarated squeal as they made contact.

“This is my 18th time and I love every minute of it,” said 62-year-old metalworker Hans Hartmann, one of 1,760 participants from across Europe.

“There is nothing like the feeling of swimming past the Neuburg skyline and hearing the fans cheer you on. If you’re in good shape and the (wet) suit fits then it’s not even that cold.”

Twenty “polar bears” dispensed with thermal wetsuits and went in wearing just swimming trunks or a swimsuit, for a 350 metre- (1,150 foot-) long dip in the Danube. Rainbow-coloured clown wigs or tall black witches’ hats topped off the look.

As they emerged from the water into an air temperature of minus seven degrees Celsius, a group calling themselves the “polar witches” stood shivering but invigorated in black bathing suits and spiderweb stockings.

“The first second in the water is always a shock but after that you really start feeling great,” said Kerstin Schattschneider, a 47-year-old dry cleaner.

“You have to prepare for it but we’re now on our third time and know what to expect,” said Sylva Mueller, also 47, a teacher.

The idea of the Donauschwimmen, as the event here is known, was born in 1970 when the local volunteer lifeguard service wanted to test whether it was prepared to handle winter rescue operations, spokesman Roland Sammet said.

More than 220 groups now participate including firefighters, soldiers, diving clubs and hobby winter swimming enthusiasts, with the oldest swimmer this year 73-year-old Wolfgang Merkel.

They launched dozens of floats on pontoons alongside the swimmers, playing German pop music and decorated with the names of their towns, companies or favourite sports teams.

Some floats had a political theme, protesting a recent dioxin contamination scandal with German eggs, the extension of the country’s nuclear power programme and even the eurozone debt crisis, with cardboard sinking ships labelled “Greece”, “Spain” and “Portugal.”

“It’s pretty chilly for the first five minutes until your body gets acclimatised,” said 42-year-old Ludwig Kettner, a forklift operator who was on his sixth Danube winter swim.

“After that, the adrenaline and the carnival atmosphere carry you through.”

Frederic Moess, a 24-year-old engineering student from the northern German city of Kiel, said he had been training
all year in the Baltic Sea for the big day in Bavaria.

“On the day itself, I like to have a few sausages, a soft pretzel and a beer or two to warm me up before I go in,” he said with a grin.

Source

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Hungary Lays Out Strategy As it Takes Over EU Presidency

Posted on December 30, 2010 by Paul Stewart

VOA

The Danube river flows not just through Budapest, but also three other national capitals - more than any other in the world.

Now Hungary, which takes over the European Union’s presidency on New Year’s Day, wants money to flow through the 14 nations bordering the river.

The Danube Strategy aims to improve the lives of over 115 million people living near one of Europe’s main waterways, which houses some of Europe’s poorest areas, mainly in Bulgaria and Romania, but also some of the richest - in Germany and Austria.

The strategy, expected to be adopted by the EU, involves modernizing road, rail and river infrastructure, attracting more tourists, creating a regional energy market and reinforcing security while protecting the environment.

Besides the Danube Strategy, Hungary’s EU presidency will also be dominated by efforts to approve new fiscal discipline to prevent a repetition of the current economic crisis in the Union and the region of countries that adopted the single European currency, the “eurozone”.

But Hungary’s conservative-leaning government is concerned that these ambitious plans can not be realized if Europe does not reverse its trend of an aging population.

Foreign Minister Janos Martonyi says Europe needs more children and explains that Hungary wants to use its stint as EU president to introduce a discussion on ‘family values,’ and to propose that 2014 be declared a ‘European Year of the Family.’

“We know very well that it’s very difficult to make Europe the most competitive region of the world with a shrinking and aging population, without confronting the demographic challenge,” said Martonyi. “That is why we want to speak about family, social inclusion, fight against poverty. We very much hope that a frame work strategy will be adopted about a whole European question which is the integration of the Roma’s.”

Apart from the EU’s social and economic challenges, Hungary also wants to use its presidency to complete membership talks with neighboring Croatia and move forward negotiations with the other EU hopefuls, including western Balkans states, as well as Iceland and Turkey.

The President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy has welcomed the initiative, despite opposition from some member states who are concerned about the costs of further enlargement. He expects EU entry talks with Turkey to gain momentum during Hungary’s presidency.

“In 2005 the accession negotiations were opened. These are difficult and complex. But there is a chance we can make more progress next year,” he said. “Turkish reforms efforts, partly achieved to adhere to EU standards, have delivered impressive results. And, at the same time Turkey plays an ever more active role in its neighborhood mediating between Syria and Israel [and] in its improving contacts with Armenia, one of the six Eastern Partnership countries.”

Van Rompuy also praised Hungary for organizing the Eastern Partnership summit with former Soviet Union states, aimed at improving energy security for Europe.

“Next May the Hungarian presidency will host a second summit of the Eastern Partnership in Budapest. They are Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine. This Partnership has significant growth capacity. For instance it is critically important for Europe’s energy supplies,” Van Rompuy said.

“Simply put: Energy security for Europe both in terms of the reliable functioning of the transit network and the potential diversification of sources can not be imagined without the involvement of our Eastern partners,” Rompuy added.

Additionally, Hungary wants to make it easier for potentially millions of ethnic Hungarians living in neighboring countries to receive Hungarian passports.

Bujdos sees Hungary’s EU presidency as the most important political event since the country’s communist regime collapsed in 1989 - the same year that she was born.

Source

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One step further for the EU Danube Strategy

Posted on December 15, 2010 by Friedrich Glorian

Danube Watch

After an intense consultation period involving all 14 Danube countries as well as stakeholder groups, the EU Strategy for the Danube Region is entering the final stages of completion and is expected to be adopted by the College of EU Commissioners on 14 December in the form of a Communication on the EU Strategy for the Danube Region.

The Danube Strategy itself will comprise two main documents: a Communication from the European Commission to the other institutions, which will set the scene and provide the overall framework for the future Strategy, and an Action Plan, which will be the main ‘roadmap’ for the years to come listing concrete actions to turn words into action. The Strategy is expected to be endorsed by Member States under the Hungarian EU Presidency in the first half of 2011.

“The ICPDR is clearly identified as an active partner and forum for issues and goals of the Danube Strategy related to water,” explains Philip Weller, Executive Secre tary of the ICPDR Secretariat. “Being the platform for implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive the ICPDR is ready to take on responsibilities for the water agenda of the Danube Strategy together with EU member states who will act as priority area coordinators for the two elements of the strategy dealing with water.”

For more information, please visit:
http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/cooperation/danube/index_en.htm

Jasmine Bachmann is the Editor of Danube Watch

Source

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Danube river to be severely impacted by plans to increase navigation

Posted on December 9, 2010 by Friedrich Glorian

WWF

Brussels, Belgium – Tomorrow the European Commission will publish plans to increase navigation on the Danube River, as part of their EU Strategy for the Danube Region. However this decision could result in significant negative impacts on the river’s unique environment without bringing the expected economic benefit to the region, WWF warns.

While acknowledging the inclusion of a number of environmental targets, including the protection of Danube sturgeon and improved water quality, WWF criticises the decision to increase navigation on the Danube by removing the so-called bottlenecks, obstacles to navigation during low water level. This usually involves deepening and widening the fairway with the help of old-fashioned and expensive infrastructures.

“Heavy investments in diking and dredging the Danube have been justified by various officials with reference to the Rhine river. But the Rhineland has very different conditions from the Danube area, with an industrial base that has developed over centuries and not just thanks to the river. Expecting an economic miracle from investments in Danube navigation is a myth, and potentially a very costly mistake.” said Andreas Beckmann, Director of the WWF Danube-Carpathian Programme.

The current focus of the proposed strategy on expensive and out-dated approaches to increase navigation risks not only waste money but destroy valuable biodiversity and associated ecosystem services, from flood protection to water purification.

“Solutions for improving inland navigation without changing drastically the nature of the river are available and are less costly in financial as well as ecological terms. We need to invest in innovative ship design that fit the existing depth of the river, better information systems, and nature friendly infrastructure.” added Beckmann.

WWF is calling on Danube countries and on Hungary as next leader of the EU Council to seize the opportunity of the Strategy to bring short and long term benefits to its population by using its enormous natural and cultural assets in a sustainable way.

For further information:
Stefania Campogianni, Media and Communication Officer, WWF European Policy Office, tel: +32 2 743 88 15, mob. +32 (0)499 539736, email: [email protected]

Andreas Beckmann, Director, WWF Danube-Carpathian Programme, mob: +43 676 84 27 28 216, email:[email protected]

Irene Lucius, Head of Policy, WWF Danube-Carpathian Programme, mob: +43 676 84 27 28215, email:[email protected]

Sergey Moroz, Freshwater Policy Officer, WWF European Policy Office, mob: +32 499 539734, email:[email protected]

Source

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EU Danube strategy key to overcoming disparities: Barroso

Posted on November 8, 2010 by Paul Stewart

AFP

The European Union’s strategy for the Danube is key to overcoming disparities in the region, European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso said on Monday during a summit in Bucharest.

“There has been major progress since the beginning of the 1990s, but there are still considerable disparities in the region,” Barroso told the delegates of the 14 countries bordering the second-longest river in Europe.

“The challenge that lies ahead of us is to speed up the process of overcoming these disparities, and in this context the EU strategy for the Danube is an innovation in terms of policy-making,” he added.

Covering 20 percent of the EU’s territory and counting more than 115 million inhabitants, the Danube’s basin shelters some of Europe’s poorest regions, mainly in Bulgaria and Romania, but also some of the richest — in Germany and Austria.

In order to bridge the gaps, the strategy aims at modernising road, rail and river infrastructure, attracting more tourists, creating a regional energy market and reinforcing security, all while protecting the environment.

Improving shipping on this river is the top priority, as currently merely 3.0 to 6.0 percent of its potential is being used, experts stress.

According to the latest comprehensive figures available, 50 million tonnes of goods were transported on the Danube in 2007, the specialised organisation Via Donau told AFP in June. By way of comparison, more than 300 million tonnes of goods are shipped on the Rhine every year.

Romania hopes to capitalise on this programme in order to build two new bridges across the Danube and a canal linking Bucharest to the river, which would make it the fifth capital city to be a port on the Danube, president Traian Basescu said.

The strategy, which is to be officially adopted by the EU next year, does not come with a budget. But Barroso said it should draw on the 95 billion euros (133 billion dollars) made available by Brussels to the countries in the region until 2013.

In a declaration adopted at the end of the meeting, the signatories pledged to implement the programmes initiated and endorsed by the participating countries and to make better use of the structural and cohesion European funds.

They also “invited the international financial institutions to contribute to the implementation of the projects by their specific financial instruments and technical assistance.”

“The Strategy for the Danube can become one of the EU’s best long-term projects, it can be a success story,” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said during a press conference.

The fourteen countries bordering the Danube are Austria, Bulgaria, Bosnia, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Romania, and Ukraine.

The Danube, 2,860 kilometres (1,787 miles) in length originates in Germany and empties in the Black Sea, via a delta shared by Romania and Ukraine.

Source

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Bulgarian Police Seize Aphrodite Statue from Archaeology Criminals

Posted on October 30, 2010 by Paul Stewart

Novinite

Bulgarian police have shattered a crime group trafficking archaeological finds, including breath-taking items such as 2-meter marble statue of Aphrodite.

The organized crime group carried out illegal archaeological digs at the ancient Roman city of Ulpia Oescus on the Danube, close to the village of Gigen, Pleven District.

The five busted men had been watched by the police for five months.

In addition to the marvelous statue of the Greek goddess of love Aphrodite, the police seized from the treasure hunters about 200 various Ancient Roman coins, small metal statuettes, parts of Roman horse ammunition, and stone images of gods Asklepius and Hygiea.

The statue of Aphrodite was found buried in the yard of a house in the village of Gigen, where the treasure hunters hid it.

The police believe the statue was probably dug out in 2006 or 2007 and had been hidden as the dealers awaited the right clients.

The special operation was carried out by the unit for fighting trafficking of cultural heritage items.

Ulpia Oescus was an ancient town in Moesia, northwest of the modern Bulgarian city of Pleven, near the village of Gigen. It is a Daco-Moesian toponym. According to Ptolemy, it was a Triballian town, of the Ancient Thracian tribe Triballi, but it later became Roman. It was one of the most important Roman towns on the lower Danube.

This is where Emperor Constantine I the Great built the largest river bridge in ancient times, Constantine’s Bridge on the Danube, which was 2.5 km long, 6 meters wide, and existed in 328 AD - ca. 355 AD.

(The “next” bridge (today’s Ruse-Giurgiu Bridge) on the Lower Danube, in the Bulgarian-Romanian section of the river was built only in 1954, about 1 600 years later, at the initiative of the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin.)

Thus, Ulpia Oescus was linked by a bridge over Danube with the ancient city of Sucidava (modern day Corabia - Romania) by Constantin the Great.

Unlike Colonia Ulpia Ratiaria near Archar on the Danube, another major Roman stronghold utterly destroyed by Bulgarian treasure hunters, Ulpia Oescus near Gigen is believed to be one of the top archaeology spots in Bulgaria that is relatively well-protected from treasure hunters’ raids.

Source

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EU Danube Strategy to promote basin-wide development

Posted on October 19, 2010 by Friedrich Glorian

WWF

WWF welcomes the EU’s initiative to develop a Danube Strategy, which can help bring together and implement existing policies and legislation to achieve long-term sustainable development across the Danube basin.

Development of the Strategy comes at a time when the Danube region faces a series of unprecedented crises: financial, economic and — even more ominously — from climate change and loss of biodiversity and related ecosystem services.

“The EU Danube Strategy presents an opportunity for the countries of the Danube region to get ahead of the development curve — to pull themselves together and put themselves on a path toward a long-term and prosperous future, including a green, carbon-free and resource-efficient economy,” said Andreas Beckmann, director of the WWF Danube-Carpathian Programme.

Baltic inspiration

The initiative has been inspired by the Baltic Strategy, which was officially adopted last year and is now focusing efforts of Baltic countries from Sweden to Estonia to address issues including marine pollution and transportation.

A five-month public consultation process for the Danube Strategy got under way on February 2 with a kick-off conference that took place in Ulm in Germany. Follow-up events are planned to take place through June in Budapest, Vienna, Ruse (Bulgaria) and Constanta (Romania), providing input for a draft to be developed by the European Commission in the summer that is expected to be officially adopted under the Hungarian EU Presidency in spring 2011.

WWF has published a discussion paper related to the Danube Strategy; an official position will follow in early April.

European Commission officials have been clear that the Strategy will bring no new funding, no new legislation and no new institutions – i.e. it can thus only focus and coordinate efforts on issues of common interest to countries in the Danube basin. Nevertheless, the Strategy can influence the allocation of existing funds, and shape priorities for the EU’s next financial period, 2014-21.

Danube basin

The Danube is the most international river basin in the world, including all or parts of the territories of 19 countries and home to some 83 million people. The region includes some of the economically poorest and richest countries in Europe, as well as a major portion of the continent’s natural wealth.

The key challenge and opportunity for the future of the Danube basin is to find ways to enhance livelihoods while preserving and even enhancing the ecosystems that provide essential goods and services for people and nature – and addressing through this significant differences in socioeconomic development between countries such as Austria and Germany on the one hand, and Bulgaria and Romania on the other.

The EU and Danube countries already have most if not all of the tools they need to achieve this objective, from progressive legislation such as the EU Water Framework Directive to funding programmes that in theory can provide financing for investments in a green economy, including investments in e.g. wetland restoration or nature conservation.

The problem in most cases has been putting what is required or possible on paper into actual practice. The Danube Strategy may help in focusing and integrating efforts to implement relevant policies, both across sectors and national borders, and including with those Danube countries like Ukraine or Serbia that are not presently members of the Union. It can also help address specific environmental challenges, including nutrient pollution, e.g. from agriculture and household detergents; networking protected areas; or promoting energy efficiency.

In addition, the Strategy can also complement and build on existing initiatives and achievements, including the Carpathian Convention and the recently adopted Danube River Basin Management Plan – the first comprehensive, cross-sectoral plan for the region, which has been developed and adopted by all countries in the Danube river basin, including both EU and non-EU member states.

Déjà vu?

But the Danube Strategy may have gotten off on the wrong foot in terms of addressing the key challenge of integrating environment and development.

In its current form, the Strategy envisions three pillars, including environment, socio-economic development and connectivity, especially related to transport and energy. The approach risks repeating the present major challenge of treating the issues separately and in isolation — an approach that has many efforts working at cross-purposes, e.g. on the lower Danube, where current approaches to developing navigation risk unnecessarily cutting sturgeon migration routes, possibly pushing the ancient Danube species to extinction.

Interventions planned through the Danube Strategy must maintain and enhance the region’s natural and social capital as the foundations for long-term development in the region.

“The unprecedented crises that we are facing are ample proof that business as usual is simply not an option”, Beckmann said. “We need a paradigm shift, and with a bit of imagination and courage, the Danube Strategy can provide this by painting and helping to realise a bold and long-term vision for sustainable development in the region.”

Contact:
Irene Lucius, Senior Policy Coordinator, WWF-DCPO

Source

WWF.Panda

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