Panorama
 
 
 
   
 
 

CELEBRATING THE DANUBE: LIVING RIVER OR SHIPPING LANE

Environmental Panorama
International
June of 2007

 

29 Jun 2007 - Vienna, Austria – Every year on this day, the European nations where the Danube River flows celebrate the continent’s greatest river system; a system that supplies drinking water to millions and supports diverse habitats and rich biodiversity.

“While many will sing praises of the Danube on this day, popping the champagne corks is premature as river engineering projects promoted by national governments and supported by the European Union could transform our living river into little more than a shipping canal,” said WWF freshwater expert Dr Christine Bratrich.

A recent WWF report lists the Danube as one of the world’s top ten threatened rivers.

Shipping corridor
WWF is concerned that EU plans to artificially deepen, regulate and/or dam 1,000km of the Danube as part of a integrated river transporation systems, known as Corridor Number 7, will destroy many of Europe’s last great river landscapes and remaining wetland areas.

This includes such renowned natural areas as Straubing-Vilshofen in Germany; the exceptionally rich wetlands along the Hungarian, Croatian and Serbian stretches; islands between Bulgaria and Romania; and the spectacular Danube Delta.

“Political decision makers have set ambitious goals and made significant progress in finding sustainable solutions for inland navigation and protecting the Danube, particularly in supporting the implementation of the EU’s Water Framework Directive,” added Dr Bratrich.

“But at the same time, ongoing and planned projects are threatening the Danube and a range of valuable benefits and services that the river provides, from drinking water and fishing to tourism and recreation.”

The threat is perhaps most acute along a 200km-stretch of the river in Romania, where dozens of islands are slated for destruction in the name of shipping. The EU-financed project, which is now moving forward, will cut off 90 per cent of the migration routes of beluga sturgeon. It will also destroy valuable bird resting and breeding area that qualifies for protection under the EU’s Natura 2000 network of specially protected sites.

Save the Danube campaign
Through WWF’s Save the Danube – Stop the Canal campaign, the global conservation organization and its partners are calling on the EU and Danube countries to: stop plans and projects that will turn the Danube into an exclusive transport corridor; and to develop a comprehensive solution for sharing the river, not just for shipping but also for fishing, tourism, agriculture and biodiversity needs.

WWF also supports the ongoing dialogue process on shipping on the Danube led by the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR) to find the best environmental standards for navigation on the Danube.

“Current approaches to promoting shipping on the Danube are expensive and unnecessary,” said Michael Baltzer, director of WWF’s Danube-Carpathian Programme. “They are focused on adapting the river to ever-deeper ships, rather than promoting new technologies in ship design, logistics and communications that can increase shipping capacities while limiting impacts.

“We must use innovation and proven technology to fit the ships to the river and not the river to the ships,” he stressed.

END NOTES:

• The Danube flows west to east through the following countries: Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Germany, Hungary, Moldova, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Ukraine.

Christine Bratrich, Head of Danube/Freshwater
WWF Danube-Carpathian Programme

+ More

Bluefin must feature at next ICCAT meeting

26 Jun 2007 - WWF is urgently calling for Mediterranean bluefin tuna to feature on the formal agenda of the next meeting of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), scheduled to take place in Istanbul, Turkey, in November.

This recommendation follows the failure of the EU to impose sufficient measures to enable the species' recovery, and the subsequent legitimisation of its plunder by EU fleets.

The urgent need for revision of the management of this fishery is further highlighted by reports of illegal fishing for bluefin tuna observed in recent days in the Mediterranean.

European Fisheries Commissioner Joe Borg indicated in a communication earlier this year that "ICCAT may revise the Recovery Plan at any moment on the basis of new scientific advice or weaknesses detected in its implementation", referring to the so-called 'recovery plan' for East Atlantic and Mediterranean bluefin tuna pushed by the EU and agreed at ICCAT in 2006.

"In light of the inadequacy of this plan and the clear weaknesses in its implementation, WWF invites the European Commission — and all other ICCAT Contracting Parties — to support the plan's urgent revision at the next ICCAT meeting in November," said Dr Sergi Tudela, Head of Fisheries at WWF Mediterranean.
Gemma Parkes, WWF Mediterranean

 
 

Source: WWF – World Wildlife Foundation International (http://www.wwf.org)
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