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Belgrade, 11 October 2007 - The five ministers responsible for water management in Ukraine, Romania, Slovakia, Hungary and Serbia announced their support for actions protecting the Tisza River Basin from pollution, floods and drought. The announcement was made at a 14:00 press conference today during the second day of the Sixth ‘Environment for Europe Conference’ in Belgrade, Serbia.

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.

The waters of Bosnia and Herzegovina are split between the Danube River Basin District and the Adriatic Sea Basin. Some 40.2% of the Sava river sub-basin, the second largest sub-basin of the Danube River Basin, lies in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The rest of the watershed is shared by Croatia, Serbia and Slovenia.

As both the largest remaining natural wetland and second largest river delta in Europe, the Danube Delta is one of the continent's most valuable habitats for wetland wildlife. Pollution and discharge manipulation from upstream has a huge effect on this area of high biodiversity, plus the delta continues to change ecologically itself – the Danube Delta spreads seaward at a rate of 10 to 25 metres every year.

The Sava is the Danube's largest tributary of the Danube in terms of discharge and the second largest in terms of catchment area. The Sava is shared by Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro. The joint management arrangements acted as a pilot for the implementation of the European Union's Water Framework Directive for the Danube and Europe.

Covering an area of 157,186 km², the Tisza River Basin is the largest sub-basin of the Danube River Basin. The Tisza River is the longest tributary of the Danube (966 km), and second largest in terms of flow after the Sava. The countries of the Tisza Basin (Ukraine, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Serbia) agreed to close transboundary co-operation, aiming to achieve integrated water resources management of the Basin.