Danube Watch 2/2017 - Danube Day 2017

Generating an immense response to the rallying cry to "Get active for a cleaner Danube", 550 organisations produced the biggest Danube Day since 2013! This tremendous achievement was inspired by the 2016 Danube Declaration that tasked signatories to make the waters of the basin cleaner, healthier and safer.

The event bounced back after a dip in last year's event numbers. In 13 countries, around 33,000 people joined in 230 events, organised by an established, unique cooperation of government, NGO, science and business sectors. A social media campaign by the EC Directorate General for the Environment resulted in 260,000 people seeing Danube Day messages.

Getting the attention

Media is an important partner for publicising Danube Days and raising awareness around the Danube and water issues. Maria M. Galambos comments on her experiences with the media over the years: “Looking back, I have mixed experiences concerning this, particularly with mass media although their attention is increasing. As positive examples: some years we even managed to broadcast a TV spot, advertising the Danube Day and related events in advance. Once there was even a very nice live radio broadcast from our family event but we’ve never managed to get a whole TV day dedicated to the Danube, although once we were very close to it.”

The EU DG-ENV social media activities surrounding Danube Day 2017 received a great deal of attention