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.

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, 30th June 2021 - Around 130 experts, stakeholders and members of the public were able to #HaveTheirSay about the 2021 updates of the Danube River Basin and Flood Risk Management Plans in the workshop "Our Opinion – Our Danube" which has just taken place.
The workshop is a key event for the update by the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR) to its management plans and gives Danubian citizens a unique opportunity to contribute to the six-year plans.

VIENNA, 29 June – For Danube Day 2021 once again we are inviting more than eighty million people in the 14 Danube countries to celebrate the day, learn about the waters, experience the river, and #DiscoverDanube. Events will be held partially online this year with only a small number of outdoor events taking place.