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Rivers, lakes, transitional and coastal waters, as well as groundwater, are vital natural resources. A significant proportion of water resources are exposed to environmental pollution or other potentially damaging pressures. Protecting and improving the waters of the Danube River Basin is therefore essential for the natural environment, the sustainable development of the region and the long-term health, well-being, and prosperity of the population.

We Pass was an initiative aiming to facilitate fish migration in the Danube River Basin, set up by the ICPDR, Jaroslav Černi Institute, DDNI, CDM SMITH, OAK Consultants, and the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research. The focus was on the preservation and reestablishment of endangered fish species migration routes in the Danube River, its tributaries, and specifically at the Iron Gates.

Sturgeons and other migratory fish species represent a historic, economic and natural heritage of the Danube River Basin and are indicators of the ecological status of aquatic ecosystems, especially of the functionality of ecological corridors. Their populations have suffered substantially from overfishing, pollution, habitat destruction and disruption of their migration routes. The need for their conservation is recognized at a high political and management level (EUSDR-PA 06, Biodiversity, DRBMP).

Any child in the Danube Basin is able to name the closest river. But it might have difficulties to say where this river flows to. And it might be impossible for it to name the ten countries, the Danube flows through.
The Danube Box - an education toolkit available in several languages and country versions - assist teachers in bringing the Danube closer to the minds of future generations.

The floodplains and wetlands of the Danube basin are uniquely valuable ecosystems in global terms, although few areas are still in their natural or near-natural state.

Since the 16th century, people have been changing the natural course of the rivers in the Danube River Basin, mainly for flood defence, hydropower generation and navigation. All these changes affect the ecological quality of the rivers. Changes in the depth or width of a river typically reduce flow rates, interrupting natural sediment transportation as well as the migration routes of animals.