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.

Vienna, 25 January 2016. Peter J. Kalas of the Czech Republic is ICPDR President 2016. He took over from Croatia’s Drazen Kurecic in a meeting and ceremony in Vienna today.

Vienna, 9 February 2016. Cleaner, healthier and safer waters for everyone to enjoy - this is the objective of two management plans for the Danube River Basin that were endorsed in Vienna today. The management plans foresee measures that will be implemented over a six-year period until 2021.