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VIENNA, 16 December 2025 – The International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR) proudly announced the winners of the 2025 Danube Art Master competition during its 28th Ordinary Meeting, held 11-12 December at the Vienna International Centre.

VIENNA, 11 December (Diplomatic Academy of Vienna) – Ukraine will take over the Presidency of the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR) in January 2026. Mariia Shpanchyk, Head of the Department of Water Management at the State Agency of Water Resources of Ukraine, will serve as its new President for one year. The annual transition in leadership reflects the ICPDR’s ongoing dedication to successful transboundary water management.

The ICPDR is pleased to share a first glimpse into the microbiological findings emerging from the Joint Danube Survey 5 (JDS5) — the world’s largest river basin monitoring programme carried out on a single river system. While full results will only be available once all samples from the 108 sampling sites have been analysed, early data from the microbiology component show encouraging trends across the entire Danube Basin.

On 15-16 February 2017, Peter Thomson, President of the General Assembly convened a two-day preparatory meeting at the United Nations Headquarters in New York in order to consider the themes for the partnership dialogues and elements for a "Call for Action" in preparation for the June 2017 high-level United Nations Conference to Support the Implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 14, known as the Oceans Conference.

In the framework of the joint EU and UNDP project -“Improving Environmental Monitoring in the Black Sea – Phase II” (EMBLAS) new opportunities for public monitoring of the Black Sea coastal status using so called “ecological sentinels” are developed.

Ice control has a long history on the Danube river. The extremely low temperatures experienced in the past weeks throughout the Danube River basin which have been causing continuous ice formation on the Danube are reminding us of the importance of cross-border cooperation.