Integration of a Basin-Wide Framework for Protecting Danube Water Quality
| Geolocation: | 44° 45' 37.9084", 23° 45' 44.1817" |
|---|---|
| Total Population | 8383,000,000 millionmillion |
| Total Area | 817,000817,000 km² 315,443.7 mi² km2 |
| Climate Descriptors | Semi-arid/steppe (Köppen B-type), Arid/desert (Köppen B-type), Continental (Köppen D-type), Dry-summer, Dry-winter |
| Predominent 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 |
Contents
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
Analysis, Synthesis, and Insight
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Learn moreASI:Danube River Basin: Insights from the Transboundary Freshwater Dispute Database
This information was excerpted or paraphrased from the Transboundary Freshwater Dispute Database (TFDD) by Matthew Pritchard on behalf of the original authors. This resource is available: Oregon State University Transboundary Freshwater Dispute Database (TFDD) (2012). http://www.transboundarywaters.orst.edu/'(read the full article... )
Contributed by: Aaron T. Wolf, Joshua T. Newton, Matthew Pritchard (last edit: 10 February 2013)
