News

On Friday, 26th June, the Marble Hall of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Climate and Environmental Protection, Regions and Water Management (BMLUK) was filled with familiar faces and new energy as the International Association for Danube Research (IAD) and its Austrian Committee marked a double anniversary: 70 years of the IAD and 50 years of its Austrian Committee.

A remarkable discovery has been made in the Drava River: an angler in Croatia recently caught a ship sturgeon (Acipenser nudiventris), a species long believed to be extinct in the Danube River Basin. Measuring 176 centimetres and weighing 35 kilograms, the fish was safely released back into the river after being identified by local authorities. The sighting is encouraging as it marks the first confirmed record of the species in many decades.

From October 20-26, 2024, more than 100 young people from across Europe are meeting in Budapest and Szolnok, Hungary to take part in the 16th European Youth Parliament for Water (EYPW). Since 1998, these parliaments have provided a platform for young people to discuss and act on critical water-related issues. This year’s event focuses on the connection between water and biodiversity, a growing concern due to pollution, over-extraction, and climate change.

On 18 October 2022, the Central and Eastern Europe WWF participated in a side event on “Achieving Functional Biodiversity in the Danube-Carpathian Region by Mainstreaming Ecological Connectivity – how to make it happen” during the 11th EUSDR Annual Forum 2022. The annual forum, which took place in a hybrid format, was jointly organized by the Ukrainian EUSDR Presidency, the former Slovak EUSDR Presidency, the European Commission, and the Danube Strategy Point, with the financial support of the Danube Transnational Programme.

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.

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.

The signing of the grant agreement between the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR) and DG REGIO will enable a feasibility study that aims to identify ways forward to preserve of fish stocks at the Romanian-Serbian border. This action is an important step in the ongoing efforts to achieve a central objective of the EU Strategy for the Danube River: saving the Danube sturgeons from extinction. Despite its longevity, this “dinosaur fish” is considered one of the most endangered species in the world.

Vienna, 26 March 2013. The ICPDR has published a manual with practical advice for measures that aim to ensure fish migration at transverse structures such as dams and weirs.

Vienna, 4/5 September 2012. The ICPDR held a workshop on river and habitat continuity to support the ongoing developments in the implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive and related legislation in the Danube River Basin with regard to addressing river and habitat continuity.