News & Media

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.

Ho Chi Minh City, 7 April 2014. The Second Mekong River Commission Summit and International Conference has convened in Ho Chi Minh City last week. Highlights of the conference included current trends in trans-boundary water management related to water, energy and food security – including climate change.

Zagreb, 9 January 2012. The draft Sava River Basin Management Plan (Sava RBMP) is available for public consultation until 21 April 2012. The Sava Commission has set up a website that offers a possibility to the public to respond to the consultation online, by submitting comments or suggestions in a form provided online.

Vienna, 18 January 2012. In the framework of a ceremony held in Vienna today, Austria took over the presidency of the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR). The former President, Mykola Melenevskyi of Ukraine, passes his office on to Wolfgang Stalzer of Austria.