News

The European Commission proposes to cut the use of chemical pesticides in half by 2030, one of the flagship legislative proposals to follow the Biodiversity and Farm to Fork Strategies. The new rules on chemical pesticides will reduce the environmental footprint of the EU's food system, protect the health and well-being of citizens and agricultural workers, and help mitigate the pesticide use-related economic losses.

As the climate crisis worsens, severe droughts devastate European landscapes. According to the data published by the European Drought Observatory, more than 60% of land in the European Union and United Kingdom – an area nearly the same size as India (!) – is now affected by drought conditions. The Danube River Basin and the Danube itself have been affected by serious droughts in the past, e.g., in 2003, 2015, and now again one of the most feared natural phenomenon has gripped much of the Danube River Basin.

Since March 2019, the ICPDR, in cooperation with the Babes-Bolyai University and the non-governmental organisation, “Sustainable Development Platform”, has been implementing a new project: “Capacity development to improve safety conditions of tailings management facilities in the Danube River Basin – Phase I: North-Eastern Danube countries”.

Vienna, 20 Dec 2019. The ICPDR provides an interim overview on Significant Water Management Issues (SWMIs) in the Danube River Basin District for the 3rd Danube River Basin Management Plan (3rd DRBMP) and invites the public to comment on this document until June 2020.

On Thursday 12 December 2019, We Pass – an EU-funded project with the ICPDR aiming to facilitate fish migration and habitat conservation in the Danube River Basin – held its first stakeholder workshop on the banks of the Danube River in Vienna, Austria.

A fitness check of the Water Framework Directive, its associated Directives, and the Floods Directive concludes that they are overall fit for purpose, with some room for enhanced effectiveness.

Vienna, 9 November 2007 – Four Hungarian children have won the ‘International Danube Art Master 2007’ competition, announced Philip Welller, Executive Secretary of the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR) today. Mr. Weller made the announcement at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics together with Gyula Hollo, Head of the Hungarian Delegation to the ICPDR.

Belgrade, 11 October 2007 - The five ministers responsible for water management in Ukraine, Romania, Slovakia, Hungary and Serbia announced their support for actions protecting the Tisza River Basin from pollution, floods and drought. The announcement was made at a 14:00 press conference today during the second day of the Sixth ‘Environment for Europe Conference’ in Belgrade, Serbia.

Mississippi Basin, 1 August 2007. An ICPDR and ISRBC delegation has visited Mississippi River Commission

Vienna, 4 September 2007 - The ICPDR has won the Australian $300,000 (approx. 180,000 Euro) International Thiess Riverprize 2007 for excellence in water management in the Danube River Basin. The announcement was made today, in Brisbane, Australia, during a special award ceremony at the 10th annual International Riversymposium held 3-6 September 2007.