Your Danube, your life: plunge into the debate

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ICPDR Danube Watch: Youth parliaments held in Moldova go to the source

Danube Watch 3 2008

Your Danube, your life: plunge into the debate

Countries are not alone in protecting shared water resources; they need cooperation from all stakeholders. Public consultations on the Danube River Basin Management Plan will begin soon, and now is the time to get involved.

Dialogue with stakeholders is important for the success of integrated river basin management in the Danube River Basin.

By 2015, all rivers, lakes and coasts in the European Union must achieve ‘good ecological status’, according to the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD). European citizens have a key role to play in the implementation of the Water Framework Directive. The directive calls for the public to be informed and involved in the preparation of river basin management plans, which identify measures to improve water quality. Public input will help Member States balance environmental, economic and social priorities in these plans.

Proposals are currently being put forward on how to reach these goals. The WFD gives all interested parties the right to influence the River Basin Management plans across the EU. The EU countries of the Danube River Basin have started their public consultation processes already, and on May 18 the overall plan for the Danube River Basin will be available for public input.

Water is everybody‘s issue. Public participation extends to all water users, to non-governmental organisations, such as local and national environmental groups, and to other stakeholders. Key organisations and citizens’ groups likely to be affected by the plan need to be involved.

All of the comments received will be considered by the experts and, if relevant, reflected in the final Danube River Basin Management Plan. This plan will be approved by the Danube Ministers in spring 2010 and furthermore be the basis for the management of the Danube and its tributaries. It is also your Danube – so get involved!

The PaRTIcIPaTIoN PRocess

The Danube River basin District Plan including the Joint Programme of Measures will be available on the ICPDR website (www.icpdr.org) on 18 May. There are several ways to provide feedback on this proposal:

  • You can fill in a questionnaire on the ICPDR website.
  • You can send us your comments on the different aspects of the proposal in simple emails.
  • You can participate in the 2nd ICPDR Stakeholder Forum, which is organised under the Slovak ICPDR Presidency in Bratislava on 29–30 June.

All these channels should help you be heard and provide input to the roof plan for the entire Danube River Basin. In addition, the national consultation processes are also under way and offer excellent opportunities to have a stake in the national and local proposal.

To find out more on your national participation process, please see http://ec.europa.eu/environment/water/
participation/map_mc/map.htm.

For more information on how to get involved, please visit:
www.icpdr.org/participate

Jasmine Bach works on public participation in the ICPDR Secretariat, and is the Executive Editor of Danube Watch.