News & Media

With just one month to go until Danube Day 2026, preparations are well underway across the Danube River Basin. On 29 June, countries, communities, schools, institutions and organizations throughout the region will come together to celebrate the Danube and the shared responsibility to protect it.

On 29 June 2026, countries across the Danube River Basin will once again come together to celebrate Danube Day, an annual tradition launched by the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR) in 2004.

Award ceremonies are taking place across the Danube River Basin, facilitated by relevant ministries in the winning countries. Over the coming months, further national award presentations will follow, highlighting young perspectives from across the basin.

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.