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The International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR) is an International Organisation consisting of 14 cooperating states and the European Union. Since its establishment in 1998, the ICPDR has grown into one of the largest and most active international bodies of river basin management expertise in Europe.

Given the complexity of the Danube River Basin, including many countries with widely differing economic and environmental management needs, one overall framework was required to sustainably manage the basin. In 2000, the ICPDR contracting parties nominated the ICPDR as the platform for the implementation of all transboundary aspects of the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD). The WFD is a holistic legal and policy framework, based on transboundary cooperation in basins, seen by many as the strongest water protection legislation in the world. The ICPDR received a similar mandate in 2009 to support the coordination of the implementation of the EU Floods Directive. In its work to implement the EU’s Water Framework Directive (WFD) and the EU’s Floods Directive (FD), the ICPDR and its partners have developed a truly integrated approach to the management of the river basin and its resources.

Sub-basins are smaller working units within a larger river basin or catchment area. They represent a distinct geographical area that is delineated based on the natural drainage patterns of rivers and their tributaries. Sub-basins are used to facilitate the management and assessment of water resources, allowing for more focused and localized analysis and planning within the broader context of the overall river basin.

Over-exploitation of water resources, water regime modifications, water contamination, and a growing number of flood events – negative effects of which are amplified by climate change – are all issues that require harmonised, integrated actions from management authorities in countries that share river basins.

Below you will find a collection of 10 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), collected from common requests and inquiries made by journalists, observers, NGOs or the general public about the organisation, objectives and history of the ICPDR. They are also available in a PDF version.

Integrated land development is a key of sustainable resource management and should be tested in a pilot project in Hungary. The outcomes of the project will also be disseminated in Serbia and Romania and should give the principle of integrated land development a boost in the Tisza River Basin.

Projects should have a clear impact on the livelihood of local people - this is especially true for the UNDP/GEF project “Integrating multiple benefits of wetlands and floodplains into improved trans-boundary management for the Tisza River Basin”. This pilot project is currently carried out on the Upper Tisza, in a village literally divided by the Tisza into two countries.

The Bodrog River Basin makes part of the Tisza River Basin and is shared by Slovakia, Hungary and Ukraine. Environmental problems and flood damages are increasing and putting pressures on the people - high time for a project of the UNDP / GEF to promote multiple benefits of wetlands and floodplains.

The Tisza Basin has been subject to significant anthropogenic impacts that have resulted in a degraded system, particularly in terms of pollution and the loss of floodplains and wetlands. The present project is focusing on the development of strategies and implementation of demo project to test the multiple environmental benefits of wetlands to mitigate impacts of floods/droughts and help to reduce nutrient pollution.