Integration of a Basin-Wide Framework for Protecting Danube Water Quality

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Case Description

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Geolocation:	44° 45' 37.9084", 23° 45' 44.1817"
Total Watershed Population:	83 million
Total Watershed Area:	817,000 km2315,443.7 mi²
Climate Descriptors:	Semi-arid/steppe (Köppen B-type), Arid/desert (Köppen B-type), Continental (Köppen D-type), Dry-summer, Dry-winter
Predominant Land Use Descriptors:	agricultural- cropland and pasture, conservation lands, industrial use, mining operations, forest land, rangeland, urban, religious/cultural sites
Important Uses of Water:	Agriculture or Irrigation, Domestic/Urban Supply, Industry - consumptive use
Water Features:	Danube River
Water Projects:	International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River
Agreements:	Convention on Cooperation for the Protection and Sustainable Use of the Danube

More facts

Summary

The Danube River basin is the heart of central Europe and is Europe's second longest river, at a length of 2,857 km. The drainage basin drains 817,000 km2 including all of Hungary, most of Romania, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, and Slovakia; and significant parts of Bulgaria, Germany, the Czech Republic, Moldova, Serbia, and Ukraine. Bosnia and Herzegovina and small parts of Italy, Switzerland, Albania and Poland are also included in the basin. The Danube River discharges into the Black Sea through a delta, which is the second largest wetland area in Europe. The river is shared by a large and ever-growing number of riparian states that for decades were allied with hostile political blocs; some of which are currently locked in intense national disputes. As a consequence, conflicts in the basin tended to be both frequent and intricate, and their resolution especially formidable. Nevertheless, in recent years, the riparian states of the Danube River have established an integrated program for the basin-wide control of water quality which, if not the first such program, has claims to probably being the most active and the most successful of its scale. The Environmental Program for the Danube River is also the first basin-wide international body that actively encourages public and NGO participation throughout the planning process, which, by diffusing the confrontational setting common in planning, may help preclude future conflicts both within countries and internationally.

Natural, Historic, Economic, Regional, and Political Framework

Figure 1: Map of the Danube River Basin.

The Danube River basin is the heart of central Europe and is Europe's second longest river, at a length of 2,857 km. The drainage basin drains 817,000 km2 including all of Hungary, most of Romania, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, and Slovakia; and significant parts of Bulgaria, Germany, the Czech Republic, Moldova, Serbia, and Ukraine. Bosnia and Herzegovina and small parts of Italy, Switzerland, Albania and Poland are also included in the basin. The Danube River discharges into the Black Sea through a delta, which is the second largest wetland area in Europe.

Prior to World War II, the European Commission of the Danube-with roots dating back to the 1856 Treaty of Paris and made up of representatives from each of the riparian countries-was responsible for administration of the Danube River. The primary consideration at the time was navigation, and the Commission was successful at establishing free navigation along the Danube for all European countries. World War II resulted in new political alliances for the riparian’s, resulting in a new management approach. At a 1948 conference in Belgrade, the East Bloc riparian’s a majority of the delegates-shifted control over navigation to the exclusive control of each riparian. This Belgrade Convention also gave the Commission semi-legislative powers, but only regarding navigation and inspection.

The main task of the Danube Commission has historically been to assure navigation conditions along the river. In addition, the Commission has developed regional plans for river projects; dissemination of country proposals to all the riparian’s for comment, and developing unified systems for regulations, channel marking, and data collection. The Commission meets once a year or in special session and, though a majority vote is sufficient to pass a proposal, in practice unanimity is solicited. The Commission has no sovereign powers and its decisions take the form of recommendations to the governments of its members.

By the mid-1980s, it becomes clear that issues other than navigation were gaining in importance within the Danube basin, notably problems with water quality. The Danube river passes by numerous large cities, including four national capitals (Vienna, Bratislava, Budapest, and Belgrade), receiving the attendant waste of millions of individuals and their agriculture and industry. In addition, thirty significant tributaries have been identified as "highly polluted."

The breakup of the USSR has also contributed to water quality deterioration, with nascent economies finding few resources for environmental problems, and national management issues being internationalized with re-drawn borders. Recognizing the increasing degradation of water quality, the eight (at that time) riparian’s of the Danube signed the "Declaration of the Danube Countries to Cooperate on Questions Concerning the Water Management of the Danube," commonly called the Bucharest Declaration, in 1985. This would lead, in turn, to the 1994 Danube River Protection Convention

In the years just before the ratification of the Danube River Protection Convention, the riparian states of the Danube River extended the principle of integrated management, and established a program for the basin-wide control of water quality, which, if not the first such program, has claims to probably being the most active and the most successful of its scale. The Environmental Program for the Danube River was also the first basin-wide international body that actively encouraged public and NGO participation throughout the planning process, which, by diffusing the confrontational setting common in planning, may help preclude future conflicts both within countries and, as a consequence, internationally.

In 1996, the Task Force and the basin countries approved the concept of a Strategic Action Plan Implementation Program (SIP). The SIP marked the end of SAP activities per se by collecting, evaluating and analyzing information collected by the SAP, and its activities are seen as the implementation of SAP findings. Its activities focused on six fields: Contamination and Human Health, Sustainable Land Use, Wetlands and Nature Conservation, Sustainable Use of Water Resources, Institutional Capacity Building and Basin Wide Projects. It is considered to have exponentially increased the level of international cooperation on the Danube River.

The Danube Pollution Reduction Program (DPRP) was created in 1997 with the support of the UNDP Global Environmental Fund. The goal of the DPRP was to define transboundary measures and actions and to develop an investment program for national, regional and international co-operation to control and reduce water pollution and nutrient loads in the Danube River and its tributaries with effects to Black Sea ecosystems. The International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR), mandated by the Danube River Protection Convention, is the over-arching management group for cooperation over the basin. Two of its committees, the International Planning Steering Group (IC/STG) and the International Commission Plenary (IC/PLN), met seven times between 1998, when the Convention entered into force, and 2002 (ICPDR). Examples of the meetings:

• 1999, 2nd Meeting IC/PLN adopts the Danube Black Sea Memorandum of Understanding.
• 2000, 3rd Meeting IC/PLN approves the Joint Action Program for the Danube River Basin, January 2001- December 2005; Water Framework Directive becomes highest priority; Danube Watch magazine begins publication.
• 2001, 6th Meeting IC/STG establishes an Expert Sub-Group for "Cartography and GIS."
• 2001, 4th IC/PLN Meeting agrees to revoke the contributions of Moldova for 1999, 2000 and 2001 due to its very difficult economic situation. Moldova agrees to begin payments in 2002.

In 2003, the ICPDR set out to define the Danube River Basin Strategy for Public Participation in accordance with the 2000 EU Water Framework Directive (WFD). This move is a breakthrough in cooperation over international river basins. The importance of public participation in river basin development decisions is well understood by water resource management bodies, but the ICPDR's attempt at formulating a detailed strategy is the first of its kind.

The strategy emphasized that public participation must to start immediately (2003), so that future management plans could be based on commonly supported initiatives. This meant that it was a work in progress, but a good model on which other large, diverse river basins' management teams could base their own public participation strategies. It is structured according to the Water Framework Directive requirement of four levels of public participation that are necessary to obtain valuable comprehensive input:

1. International: among the basin countries
2. National Level: deals with the implementation strategies and management plans.
3. Sub-Basin Level: various pilot projects at different parts of the basin
4. Local Level: where the WFD is actually implemented.

Each phase of the strategy contains activities at each level of participation. For example, in the Preparatory Phase (2003-2004), activities at the international level concentrate on cooperation and organizational analysis of ICPDR with regard to public participation. Activities at the national level focus on the establishment of government structures to coordinate public participation. At each level potential stakeholders are defined by sub-basin, village and/or economic group, and trainings on the theory, implementation and responsibility for engaging in public participation will be held for management officials from high level, ministerial conferences to trainings for local water providers.

At the international level, Phase One (2004-onwards) of the strategy emphasizes the dissemination of information about public participation to all stakeholders through the improvement of web pages dealing with the Danube river, the organization of hearings for all interested parties and the declaration of June 29 as "Danube Day," as well as the creation of a structure with in the ICPDR to facilitate public participation. Activities at the national, regional and local levels in Phase One involve analysis of the local environmental situation, development of action plans and the creation of monitoring and evaluation mechanisms.

Phase Two (2004-onwards) is designed to assess activities in Phase One and make adjustments to the original strategy. Phase Three (2004-onward) activities will focus on implementing the adjustments needed (as defined in Phase Two) such as developing regional frameworks for water councils, the integration of key stakeholders into discussions on program objectives. In Phase Four (2005-onwards), the revision of dissemination materials will continue, evaluations of public participation will be made and feedback mechanisms created.

Issues and Stakeholders

Providing an integrated, basin-wide framework for protecting Danube water quality and encourage communication between water-related agencies, NGOs, and individuals.

NSPD: Water Quality, Governance
Stakeholder Types: Sovereign state/national/federal government, Non-legislative governmental agency, Environmental interest, Industry/Corporate Interest, Community or organized citizens

The Danube passes by numerous large cities, including four national capitals (Vienna, Bratislava, Budapest, and Belgrade), receiving the attendant waste of millions of individuals and their agriculture and industry. In addition, thirty significant tributaries have been identified as "highly polluted."

Stakeholders:

• Albania
• Austria
• Bulgaria
• Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Croatia
• Czech Republic
• Germany
• Hungary
• Italy
• Moldova
• Poland
• Romania
• Slovakia
• Slovenia
• Switzerland
• Ukraine
• Serbia and Montenegro
• European Commission
• European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)
• European Investment Bank (EIB)
• Nordic Investment Bank
• United Nations Development Program (UNDP)
• United Nations Environment Program (UNEP)
• World Bank
• World Conservation Union (WCU)
• World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)
• Regional Environmental Centre
• Barbara Guntlett Foundation

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Key Questions

How can increasing urban water demand be balanced between the needs of the urban population and industry?

The use of public participation within the Strategic Action Plan of the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR) since its inception in 1994 has permitted the basin states of the Danube to move forward rather quickly with several initiatives.

How can costs for water quality projects be distributed between polluters and beneficiaries?

The degree of cooperation among representatives of participating governments, and the importance given to public participation in developing the SAP, mark significant achievements in promoting regional cooperation in water resources management. Ultimately, the success of this process will be revealed by the degree to which the goals, strategies, and targets set in the agreement are implemented "on the ground." It is one thing to agree to goals and targets in timeframes; it is another thing to, for example, agree to shut down a polluting factory, or to create and enforce industrial wastewater pretreatment standards, or to develop rigorous monitoring and enforcement regimes. Additionally, because agreement signatories are at the Ministerial level in the water sector (vs. at the level of the Foreign Minister), it is not clear if the agreement has the force of an international treaty behind it.

What mechanisms beyond simple allocation can be incorporated into transboundary water agreements to add value and facilitate resolution?

In 2003, the ICPDR set out to define the Danube River Basin Strategy for Public Participation in accordance with the 2000 EU Water Framework Directive (WFD). This move is a breakthrough in cooperation over international river basins. The importance of public participation in river basin development decisions is well understood by water resource management bodies, but the ICPDR's attempt at formulating a detailed strategy is the first of its kind. The strategy emphasized that public participation must to start immediately (2003), so that future management plans could be based on commonly supported initiatives. This meant that it was a work in progress, but a good model on which other large, diverse river basins' management teams could base their own public participation strategies. It is structured according to the Water Framework Directive requirement of four levels of public participation that are necessary to obtain valuable comprehensive input:

1. International: among the basin countries
2. National Level: deals with the implementation strategies and management plans.
3. Sub-Basin Level: various pilot projects at different parts of the basin
4. Local Level: where the WFD is actually implemented.

Each phase of the strategy contains activities at each level of participation. For example, in the Preparatory Phase (2003-2004), activities at the international level concentrate on cooperation and organizational analysis of ICPDR with regard to public participation. Activities at the national level focus on the establishment of government structures to coordinate public participation. At each level potential stakeholders are defined by sub-basin, village and/or economic group, and trainings on the theory, implementation and responsibility for engaging in public participation will be held for management officials from high level, ministerial conferences to trainings for local water providers. At the international level, Phase One (2004-onwards) of the strategy emphasizes the dissemination of information about public participation to all stakeholders through the improvement of web pages dealing with the Danube, the organization of hearings for all interested parties and the declaration of June 29 as "Danube Day," as well as the creation of a structure with in the ICPDR to facilitate public participation. Activities at the national, regional and local levels in Phase One involve analysis of the local environmental situation, development of action plans and the creation of monitoring and evaluation mechanisms. Phase Two (2004-onwards) is designed to assess activities in Phase One and make adjustments to the original strategy. Phase Three (2004-onward) activities will focus on implementing the adjustments needed (as defined in Phase Two) such as developing regional frameworks for water councils, the integration of key stakeholders into discussions on program objectives. In Phase Four (2005-onwards), the revision of dissemination materials will continue, evaluations of public participation will be made and feedback mechanisms created.

External Links

• Oregon State University Transboundary Freshwater Dispute Database Case Studies — The Transboundary Freshwater Dispute Database (TFDD) is a database intended for use in aiding the process of water conflict prevention and resolution. We have developed this database, a project of the Oregon State University Department of Geosciences, in collaboration with the Northwest Alliance for Computational Science and Engineering.

• Danube Regional Project — The Danube Regional Project website allows for collaborative exchange and cooperation between Danube countries and assists with ensuring common approaches for ethical ecological management.