News & Media

VIENNA, 20 March (Vienna International Centre) – The growing disparities in water access around the world and the escalating impacts of climate change on the Danube River Basin are some of the most pressing challenges of our time, says the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR) as it joins the global community in commemorating World Water Day 2026 on Sunday, 22 March. This year’s theme, "Where water flows, equality grows," highlights the indispensable role of equitable water management in fostering social justice, economic stability, and environmental resilience across the Danube region.

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.