Danube Watch 2/2017 - Vasyl Gubal “Children, adults, local citizens, environmental authorities, the church, decision-makers: all of us are united by rivers”
Vasyl Gubal “Children, adults, local citizens,
environmental authorities, the church, decision-makers:
all of us are united by rivers”
Mr. Vasyl Gubal is mayor of the village Kvasovo (900 inhabitants), located in the Tisza basin in Ukraine, not far from the Ukrainian-Hungarian border. Since 2009, Kvasovo has been actively participating in the Danube Day and it has twice hosted the Danube Day in its area. In 2014, the village became one of the first locations in the province of Zakarpattya, to begin sorting communal waste. It has installed containers for the separate collection of recyclables and constructed a landfill site with the support of various EU projects and Coca-Cola beverages, Ukraine. The villagers themselves have conducted several clean-ups on the Borzhava River to remove plastic jams coming from the upstream villages and shared this experience with others. Now Mr. Gubal aims to create a centralised wastewater treatment system in the village to reduce organic pollution.
Danube Watch: Why is Danube Day and the protection of Danube River important to you personally? What inspired you to go to such great efforts to bring the Danube Day message to your town?
I personally and our community have been participating in the Danube Day almost from the very beginning. Living with the Borzhava River has shown us that we need to find a way to create synergy with the river. In 2001, the village suffered greatly from the catastrophic floods and later became one of the pilot projects for soft flood mitigation measures. Due to the location of Kvasovo in the Borzhava lowlands, a large amount of plastic waste is washed down from mountain villages upstream. This needs to be disposed of locally and means we have to carry out clean-up initiatives if we want to have tourists and a clean environment. We like Danube Day because it involves our kids in a new and interactive way and encourages them to think and care about the river. During the last nine years, our village school and kindergarten have grown with this event, looking forward to it throughout the whole year. It is an opportunity for us, as a small village, to be visible and heard, to show our talents and our worries and also to celebrate the birthday of our river with other communities.
Danube Watch: What do you hope Danube Day and the work of the ICPDR in general can achieve?
Environmental problems are becoming more and more important. We are observing more and more strange weather phenomena with extreme heat, or extreme cold and rain. This makes us feel vulnerable. Moreover, the development of industry and the ever increasing amount of disposable products all put substantial pressure on our rivers. If we want to achieve significant results in river conservation, we need to unite the efforts of scientists, decision-makers and local communities. I believe that this is actually both the main task of the Danube Day and its greatest success.
The village has been developing green tourism significantly, and clean riverbanks and a safe environment are now the hallmarks of this small village surrounded by hills. The village has a strong connection with the church and very special caring attitude towards its river, the Borzhava, which has led to an initiative to install a large cross at its source high in the Carpathian mountains to receive blessings and to protect the village from floods and droughts. “Not only praying, but also working for the river” is the motto for Kvasovo.
Danube Watch: What role do you think small communities can play in environmental protection/awareness efforts more generally? Not just in Ukraine, but throughout the Danube region?
Local communities are actually the ones who put the actions into practice. For example, we conduct river clean-ups twice a month on Saturdays, we also collect and separate plastic and glass and are pushing hard for a centralised wastewater treatment system. However, for this to happen, people first need to understand why all these actions should be a priority for them in the hectic world we live in today. I believe the involvement of local communities should be increased if we want to ensure support for environmental protection at a local level.
Danube Watch: Now that you have used you leadership role to inspire your local community to get involved with Danube Day, what suggestions could you make for other local leaders who wish to promote a similar agenda?
We’ve had many meetings with other communities to share our experiences not only in the Tisza basin, but also in the Danube delta. People often ask me how we manage to attract funds and people to support the implementation of our environmental ideas. My answer is this: “Work hard, stay generous and hospitable to others, ask God for support and have a feeling for nature!” If you are open and want to make change, you can always join other people sharing the same vision. The ICPDR – and Danube Day in particular – provides the perfect platform for this.
