Reducing impacts of the Danube River Basin on the Black Sea Peter Whalley – UNDP-GEF Tisza / ICPDR

THE DANUBE RIVER BASIN the most international basin in the world 801,463 km2 (10% of Europe) 2,857 km > 81 M Inhabitants 19 Countries Old EU, New EU and non-EU Regional social and economic disparities EU support 18 years GEF support Accession process Political and legal base for implementation and enforcement of EU legislation Sets targets and priorities for candidate and applicant countries Framework for donors activities and internatinal assistance in meeting environmental objectives

Legal Frameworks Bucharest Declaration (1985) Danube River Protection Convention (Sofia 1994) Convention on the Protection of the Black Sea against Pollution (Bucharest 1992) EU Water Directives – specifically Water Framework Directive Memorandum of Understanding between Danube and Black Sea Commissions

Danube River Basin Analysis Report WFD Article V Roof Report Approved at the Ministerial Meeting – Vienna, 13 December 2004 ICPDR has been nominated as the platform to develop the Danube River Basin Management Plan Danube River Basin District - Roof Report Part A – Basin wide overview Danube Basin Analysis (Roof report 2004) Approved at the Ministerial Meeting - 13 December 2004

Four Significant Water Management Issues Organic Pollution Nutrient Pollution Hazardous Substances Pollution Hydromorphological Alterations

Political commitments The Danube nutrient loads: important factor responsible for the deterioration of the Black Sea ecosystem MoU of ICPBS and ICPDR, 2001 "the long-term goal in the wider Black Sea Basin is to take measures to reduce the loads of nutrients and hazardous substances discharged to such levels necessary to permit Black Sea ecosystems to recover to conditions similar to those observed in the 1960s. Danube Declaration (Ministerial Meeting, 2004) "to reduce the total amount of nutrients entering the Danube and its tributaries to levels consistent with the achievement of good ecological status in the Danube river and to contribute to the restoration of an environmentally sustainable nutrient balance in the Black Sea".

Danube Country’s Responses to nutrients Developing ‘Joint’ Programme of Measures Implementing EU Directives (WFD, UWWT, Nitrates) Reducing P in laundry detergents Encouraging implementation of BAPs Promoting reconnection of wetlands/floodplains

MONERIS decision support and management tool Concept for integration of data required by the EU directives for MONERIS calculations Basin wide overview of point and diffuse pollution sources Calculation of scenarios for possible changes of nutrients loads within the Danube river systems and into the Black Sea Evaluation of Program of Measures

Results of the scenario calculation

Scenarios results (N)

Macrozoobenthos