Annual Stakeholder Seminar of the Pillar II.
– Protecting the Environment –
of the EU Strategy for Danube Region
06 November, 2012, Budapest
Restoring and maintenance the quality
of waters (EUSDR Priority Area 04)
Radoslav Bujnovský
Water Research Institute, Bratislava
[email protected]
Introduction
● Environment protection is indispensable part of Danube region
development that is embedded in the recent EU strategic documents
(e.g. EU Strategy for Danube Region, Europe 2020).
● In harmony with concept of sustainable development, one of four
EUSDR pillars represents the area of environment.
● Sustainable use of the Danube Region,
as a major international hydrological basin and ecological corridor,
requires a regional approach to
nature conservation, spatial planning and water management.
● Water quality represents world-wide significant policy problem.
Reaching the good state of waters through the implementation of
WFD in EU countries and relevant national legislation in non EU
countries is perceived as a basic precondition of prosperous Danube
Region development.
● Although the water pollution is mainly problem of agricultural
activities and untreated sewage,
the environmental impact of transport links, tourist development, or
new energy-producing facilities is not negligible.
Mandate of EUSDR PA 04
A: Provision of activities focused on improvement of
water quality in Danube Region countries through fulfilment
of targets and actions.
B: Support of the approval of project proposals relevant to PA04
C: Development of cooperation with other PAs within and outside
the Pillar B.
A: Provision of activities focused on improvement of
water quality in Danube Region countries through fulfilment
of targets and actions
● The River Basin Management Plans set concrete targets and
measures that improve water quality through reducing pollution from
organic, nutrient or hazardous substances.
● In harmony with that, PA 04 has defined 5 targets and 14 actions.
● PA04 TARGETS:
1. Achieve the management objectives set out in the Danube River
Basin Management Plan
2. Reduce the nutrient levels in the Danube river to allow the recovery
of the Black sea ecosystems to conditions similar to 1960s
3. Elaborate a Danube delta analysis report by 2013 as a step
towards completion of the Delta management plan, which shall be
adopted by 2015
4. Elaborate, adopt and implement sub basin management plans,
such as Sava, Tisza and Prut sub basins
5. Secure viable populations of Danube sturgeon species.
● PA 04 ACTIONS:
1. To implement fully the Danube River Basin Management Plan
2. To greatly strengthen cooperation at sub-basin level
3. To continue to invest in and support the information collection
systems already developed by ICPDR
4. To continue boosting major investments in building and upgrading
urban wastewater treatment facilities across the Danube Basin,
including measures to build capacity at the regional and local level
for the design of such infrastructure
5. To establish buffer strips along the rivers to retain nutrients and to
promote alternative collection and treatment of waste in small rural
settlements
● PA 04 ACTIONS – cont.:
6. To foster and develop an active process of dialogue and cooperation
between authorities responsible for agriculture and environment
to ensure that measures are taken to address agricultural pollution
7. To legislate at the appropriate level to limit the presence of
phosphates in detergents
8. To treat hazardous substances and contaminated sludge with the
newest and best available technology and to develop and promote
remediation measures
9. To assure the proper control and progressive substitution of
substances that are considered problematic for Danube Region
10. To reduce existing water continuity interruption for fish migration in
the Danube river basin
● PA 04 ACTIONS – cont.:
11. To promote measures to limit water abstraction
12. To strengthen general awareness and facilities exchange of
good practice in integrated water management issues in the
Danube Basin among decision-makers at all levels and among
the population of the Region
13. To promote measures aimed at reducing knowledge deficits,
developing and transferring tools, methods and guidelines
concerning the safeguarding of drinking water supply
14. To further strengthen Integrated Coastal Zone Management and
Maritime Spatial Planning practices on the Western shores of the
Black Sea.
● Most PA04 actions are related to achievement the management
objectives set out in the DRBMP and reduction of nutrients in Danube
river.
Integration of PA04 actions into PA04 targets
B: Support of the approval of project proposals relevant to PA04
area
● Priority Area 4 Steering Group can label appropriate projects as
having implementation relevance for the Danube Region Strategy
and support the approval and subsequent funding of proposed
projects through drawing up a Letter of Recommendation.
● List of proposed projects supplied with LoRs:
- Blue Danube – Improved framework conditions for fast track ecoinnovation in waste water treatment (Activity 04)
- ProTisza – Promoting strategic partnership enabling cooperation in
the Tisza river basin (Activity 02)
- Danube sediment management – assessment for restoration of
sediment balance in the Danube river basin (Activity 10)
- CC-Ware – Mitigating vulnerability of water resources (Activity 12)
- FoWaP – Forests for drinking water protection (Activity 13)
- SEE River – Sustainable integrated management of international
river corridors in SEE countries (Activity 02)
- SEWABIS – Environmental status of sediment, water and biota in
the Sava river basin (Activity 02)
● List of proposed projects supplied with LoRs (cont.):
- GoodWater – Strategies for development the water management
instruments on water protected areas (Activity 12)
- PS-RED – Emissions reduction of priority substances in the Danube
basin (Activity 01)
- Hydrology study for the Sava river basin (Activity 02)
- Towards sustainable sediment management using the Sava river
basin as a showcase (Activity 02)
- Protection and sustainable use of water resources from alluvial
aquifers in the Sava river basin (Activity 12)
- ICZM –Improvement of the integrated coastal zone management in
the Black sea region (Activity 14).
C: Development of cooperation with other PAs within and outside
the Pillar B
● This is the general requirement rooted in EUSDR.
● The immediate way to encourage this process consists in:
- participation of PAC 04 as members of most relevant SGs of other
PAs for mutual information exchange
- assisting of PAC04 at preparation of cross-cutting project
proposals through sharing available information with other project
partners.
Thank you for your attention