Search Results

Projects should have a clear impact on the livelihood of local people - this is especially true for the UNDP/GEF project “Integrating multiple benefits of wetlands and floodplains into improved trans-boundary management for the Tisza River Basin”. This pilot project is currently carried out on the Upper Tisza, in a village literally divided by the Tisza into two countries.

The Bodrog River Basin makes part of the Tisza River Basin and is shared by Slovakia, Hungary and Ukraine. Environmental problems and flood damages are increasing and putting pressures on the people - high time for a project of the UNDP / GEF to promote multiple benefits of wetlands and floodplains.

The Danube navigation dialogue, concluded in October 2007 with the finalisation of the "Joint Statement", is continued. A first follow-up meeting was held in January 2009 in Budapest, a second one is held in March 2010 in Zagreb, serving to assessing the progress achieved so far and discussing how to improve the application of the "Joint Statement" in waterway projects.

Between April and October 2007, an integrated stakeholder dialogue was conducted by ICPDR, Danube Commissson and the International Sava Commission. Main activities were 3 workshops and the drafting of the Joint Statement document.

The Tisza Basin has been subject to significant anthropogenic impacts that have resulted in a degraded system, particularly in terms of pollution and the loss of floodplains and wetlands. The present project is focusing on the development of strategies and implementation of demo project to test the multiple environmental benefits of wetlands to mitigate impacts of floods/droughts and help to reduce nutrient pollution.

At the first ministerial meeting of the ICPDR countries held in December 2004, ministers and high-level representatives of the five Tisza countries signed a Memorandum of Understanding, establishing the ICPDR Tisza Group for coordination as well as implementation of an international integrated Tisza River Basin cooperation under the umbrella of the ICPDR. After 15 years of successful cooperation the ICPDR Tisza Group will focus on the implementation of the updated ITRBMP.

On 3 December 2007, a Conference on the Adaptation of Water Management to the Effects of Climate Change in the Danube region took place in Vienna.
The goal was to discuss the expected effects of climate change on the water cycle, such as enhanced droughts and floods, and how the related challenges can be met for the sake of nature and people.

JDS 2, the world's biggest river research expedition, was held in 2007. Its goal was to produce comparable and reliable information on water quality and pollution for the Danube and some tributaries. The ICPDR coordinated its implementation. Launched on August 14, 2007 in Germany, three JDS2 boats traveled downstream the Danube, through 10 countries, to the Danube Delta.

Romania, Ukraine, Serbia, Slovakia and Hungary share the responsibility for the Tisza river basin and undertook jointly activities towards the implementation of the EU Water Freamwork Directive and the EU Flood Directive. These efforts were supported by the European Union in the frame of the TISAR 2007 and led to good results.

In October 2007, a "Joint Statement on Inland Navigation and Environmental Sustainability in the Danube River Basin" was concluded and very positively received by stakeholders. In the years that followed, the responsible government authorities and interest groups met again to discuss the progress achieved so far and how to improve the application of the Joint Statement in waterway projects. These meetings continue.