25/04/2006 - Vienna, Austria
– The ongoing flooding of the Danube in Romania
is the result of bad land use planning and mismanagement
along the entire length of the river, according
to WWF.
When natural retention zones
are lost on the upper reaches of the river, the
problem simply gets transferred further downstream,
with increased impacts and damage, as is now being
experienced in Romania, Serbia and Montenegro
and Bulgaria.
“Recent breaks in dykes on the
Danube in Romania, which are forcing the evacuation
of thousands of people in southern Romania, underline
the limitations of traditional approaches to flood
management, such as dykes and dams," said
Christine Bratrich, head of WWF's Danube-Carpathian
Freshwater Programme.
”An integrated and internationally
coordinated approach to flood management that
works with nature, not against it, is needed for
flood security along the entire length of the
river."
As a result of man-made changes,
including channeling and construction of dykes
and dams for navigation and traditional flood
management, the Danube River has lost 15,000–20,000km2
of floodplains since the 19th century, with less
than 19 per cent of the former flood plains remaining.
“The EU’s new Floods Directive
could provide the kind of integrated approach
to flood management that is needed for flood security
in future, but it will very much depend on the
way that the legislation is implemented,” said
Bratrich.
In implementing the new EU Floods
Directive, the European Commission and EU member
states must ensure stronger coordination with
other EU legislation, especially the EU Water
Framework Directive, which promotes an integrated
approach to river basin management. Implementation
of the Directive must also make economics work
for the environment, for example, by ensuring
that economic activities in flood risk areas bear
the costs of flood defense measures.
In implementing the Floods Directive,
the European Commission and EU member states should
also promote other flood mitigating measures,
such as through the maintenance and restoration
of floodplain areas, which can soak up and thus
limit the impact of floodwaters.
In 2000, the governments of
Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine and Moldova signed
a declaration to restore more than 220,000ha of
former floodplains along the Lower Danube – roughly
the storage capacity that is now missing on the
lower Danube, where some 200,000ha are now under
water.
“By moving forward on implementation
of the Lower Danube Green Corridor, the governments
of Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova and Ukraine have
a real opportunity to set a landmark in European
flood protection policy, with a win-win situation
for people and nature, but only if they take action
now,” stressed Bratrich.
END NOTES:
• According to news reports,
at least 2,500 people have been forced to evacuate
their homes following several breaks in dykes
on the Danube in Romania. More evacuations are
expected. Disaster response teams are planning
to evacuate approximately 9,000 people from their
homes. Sections of dyke have given way along the
Danube in southern Romania near the communities
of Bistret, Dabuleni, Sarata and Oltina. A 20m
section of dyke gave way near Bistret, flooding
at least 4 villages and 24,000ha of land, reported
the TV channel Realitatea.
