Danube Watch 2/2019 - Celebrating 16 Wonderful Years of Danube Day!
Danube Day has become the largest river festival in the world, with huge festivities on the riverbanks, public meetings and educational events. It is also a basin-wide celebration reflecting the diversity of the region. It pays tribute to the vital role the Danube and its tributaries play in people's lives: providing water, food, power, recreation and livelihoods. Coordination is carried out by the ICPDR’s Public Participation Expert Group (PP EG) at the international level – providing branded goods, give-aways such as the Danube Day bags, hotly tipped fashion items; nationally, member countries and partners organise the events with support from local corporate partners.
When the ICPDR began planning the first Danube Day, it was never dreamt that it would grow into the massive event that it is today. Back then, active partners numbered around 150 and there were 100 events taking place. Now, the ICPDR and more than 450 partner organisations plan and coordinate over 200 events in 14 countries around the Danube region. The ICPDR would like to take this opportunity to highlight an array of the wide-ranging events that take place every year to give an idea of the fantastic versatility of Danube Day!
2004
The first Danube Day in history. A strong start with more than 100 individual events throughout the Danube River Basin. The celebration highlighted the 10th anniversary of the Danube River Protection Convention, signed on 29 June 1994 in Sofia, Bulgaria.
2005
Greet the Danube. A wave of sound united Danube peoples as ships throughout the basin sounded their horns in tribute to the river. Organised by Global Water Partnership.
2006
Swimming the Danube. American Mimi Hughes swam the 2,850km of the Danube River from its source in Donaueschingen, Germany. Mimi, a 49 year-old wife and mother of four children, swam the Danube on a personal mission of social and environmental stewardship. Using the experience of her previous swims (from Alaska to Russia and the length of the Tennessee River, USA), her journey raised awareness of the importance of international cooperation for social responsibility and the preservation of the environment.
2007
AD International “Waters Unite” Bicycle Tour. An annual event, the bicycle tour took cyclists on a mammoth journey from Krems to Györ, travelling through the floodplains of Austria, Slovakia and Hungary, and getting a chance to explore the landscape, animals and plants across the basin.
2008
Vukovar Film Festival. Spectacular Danube scenes were on-show at the 2008 Vukovar Film Festival, the result of a new collaboration between the ICPDR and the Danube-focused international film event.
2009
2nd ICPDR Stakeholder Forum, Bratislava. A major stakeholder conference that brought together organisations from across the agricultural, industrial, commercial and environmental sectors to discuss the management of the Danube River.
2010
UNDP-GEF Workshop on Land and Water Management in the Upper Tisza. Dilove, in Western Ukraine, saw a joint Ukrainian-Romanian workshop examining progress on the Tisza management plan, pollution control, flood management and restoration. 200 children undertook river bank clean-up and tree planting
2011
Danube Day at European Parliament. An initiative of MEPs from Romania, Germany, Bulgaria, Hungary, Slovakia and Austria resulted in the opening of a Danube Day photo exhibition - Treasures of the Danube - at the European Parliament.
2012
International Blue Week. Blue Week is an initiative of the Danube Competence Centre working with city/municipal authorities to celebrate the Danube through music, carnivals, theatre, workshops, sport and exhibitions. The three Danube-dedicated days took place in Vidin and Donji Milanovac in Bulgaria and Kladovo in Serbia.
2013
Danube Camp at Dunasziget Eco Park. 30 young researchers from across the region gathered in Hungary for the inaugural IAD Danube Camp to promote international cooperation and knowledge sharing.
2014
WWF Caravan for a Living Danube. WWF and Coca-Cola teamed up to highlight the world's most international river and its floodplains in a 7-year project to renaturalize and restore floodplain areas in 6 countries. As part of this, WWF launched a 'Caravan for a Living Danube’ in Belgrade on Danube Day. Providing educational workshops, it toured Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Romania and Serbia until the end of summer 2015.
2015
Sava 2015 Cycling Tour. Six cyclists took on the gruelling 870km 4-country tour in 2015 to promote Danube solidarity. Travelling the length of the Sava Basin, from source to mouth, the trek began in the Slovenian mountains of Kranjska Gora and continued through Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina to Belgrade in Serbia.
2016
Opening of the International Danube Festival Ulm/ Neu-Ulm. A riot of colour was unveiled at the festival's opening ceremony, when 650 hand-painted flags were proudly paraded along the riverbank. The flags provide a stunning symbol of the historical, political, economic and cultural diversity of the Danube Basin. Each was designed by Serbian artist, Dragan Matic, working with the Novi Sad Art Academy.
2017
International Workshop on Flood Protection Education in Bucharest. Organised by Hungary's EUSDR Priority Area-5 Coordination Office and the Faculty of Water Science at the National University of Public Service, the event promoted the Flood Protection Education Network amongst universities and vocational schools in the Danube region.
2018
Pirates' Plastic Regatta on the Borzhava River. As part of Ukraine's festival in Kvasovo, children designed and built magnificent model boats using recycled plastic, which were later launched onto the river. The initiative was a joint project of Hungary's PET CUPA, the All-Ukrainian Ecological League and the Uzhgorod Regatta.
