News & Media

130 high school students from ten countries have contributed to the fifth Joint Danube Survey (JDS5), the world's largest surface water monitoring effort, collecting water samples along the Danube and its tributaries that were then screened for 447 pesticides in a European Commission laboratory. For the first time, citizen science forms an integral part of the Joint Danube Survey.

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.

The ICPDR applauds the recent signing of the"goMURra" Declaration by Austrian Water Minister Norbert Totschnig and Slovenian Minister for Natural Resources Jože Novak. The declaration, signed on 11 November 2025 at the UNESCO 5-Country Biosphere Reserve, marks a significant step forward in transboundary water management and ecological restoration in the Danube River Basin.

Dubrovnik, 17 October 2012. The Sixth GEF Biennial International Waters Conference, as with prior IW Conferences, was a learning event for the GEF IW focal area held in the Croatian town of Dubrovnik from the 17th to the 21st of October. The general objective of the conference is to facilitate cross-sectoral and portfolio-wide learning and experience sharing.

Chisinau, 2/3 March 2012. The 5th International Conference Ecological Chemistry 2012 will be held on March 2-3, 2012 in Chisinau, Republic of Moldova. A conference announcement.

Kolontár, 4 October 2010. A dam at a Hungarian aluminium factory near Kolontár broke. Approximately 1.5 million cubic metres of alkaline red sludge and water were released with disastrous consequences: 10 people died, hundreds of hectares of agricultural land were contaminated. One year after these events, we collected information on the current environmental conditions in the area. As an ongoing effort, the Accident Prevention and Control Expert Group of the ICPDR continues its work to avoid or mitigate such disasters in the future.