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The Danube begins at the confluence of the Brigach and Breg Rivers in the city of Donaueschingen located in the Black Forest, Baden-Württemberg. The German Danube catchment area covers an area of about 56,200 km²; its share of the total Danube catchment area is approx. 7%. The German Danube basin is bordered by the Rhine basin to the west and the Elbe River basin to the east.

The Czech Republic is situated at the roof of Europe and its waters are drained through rivers into three different seas. The majority of the territory is drained by the Elbe and Oder to the North and Baltic Seas. The Morava River drains almost 28 % of the country to the Danube. Nearly 2.8 million inhabitants – around 3.46 % of the population in the Danube River Basin – live in this area.

With a national territory of 87,609 km2, Croatia is at the intersection of the Pannonian Plain, the Balkans and the Adriatic. The country straddles the border of two major catchment areas: the Danube Basin and the Adriatic Sea. Draining over 62% of Croatia’s mainland, the Danube Basin covers the northern and central inland section of the country and is home to 69% of the population. Croatian territory accounts for 4.4% of the entire Danube Basin.

The ICPDR comprises 15 Contracting Parties who have committed themselves to implement the Danube River Protection Convention.

The final goals are to co-operate on fundamental water management issues and to take all appropriate legal, administrative and technical measures to maintain and improve the quality of the Danube River and its environment.

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.

The Drava River is the fourth largest, as well as the fourth longest Danube tributary. It connects the Alps with the Danube and the Black Sea. The Drava has been considerably regulated with dams constructed to generate hydroelectricity and channels dredged to direct its flow. Nevertheless, natural habitats along the middle and lower reaches host unique varieties of flora and fauna, and several endemic species.

19 countries share the Danube River Basin, which makes it the world’s most international river basin. 79 million people of different cultures and languages call the Danube Basin their home. For centuries they have been interconnected through the widely ramified water system of the Danube. All countries sharing over 2,000 km² of the Danube River Basin, as well as the European Union, are contracting parties of the ICPDR.