Danube Campaign


Living river -- or transport canal?

Old-fashioned river engineering projects put forward by national governments and supported by the European Union could transform our living Danube into little more than a shipping canal.

Over 1,000 km of the Danube could be artificially deepened, regulated, or dammed
, destroying many of Europe’s last great river landscapes and wetlands, including the myriad of benefits and services they provide, from drinking water to fish, tourism and recreation. 

Transportation is one important use of our river – but not the only one. We want a living river, not just a canal. Fit the ships to the river, not the river to the ships!



Campaign news


 
Romanian Danube

29 Feb 2008
Crucial milestone for Danube’s future: Calarasi-Braila navigation project
Work on the Romanian navigation project is set to begin in April 2008. A recently agreed step-wise approach is supposed to compensate for the very poor quality of the project's design. » Read more

 
EU plans out of balance. The Danube is a lifeline, not just a shipping canal.

17 Jan 2008
WWF criticizes Austrian plans to develop the Danube as a waterway.
Today the Austrian State Secretary for Transport and the director of viadonau announced the planned measures of the Austrian National Action Plan on Danube Navigation for 2008. WWF sticks to its criticism of the current plans to develop the Danube as a waterway. » Read more

 
Danube Floodplain National Park / Austria

15 Jan 2008
Open letter to Austrian State Secretary for Transport regarding Danube infrastructure plans
WWF prepared an open letter to State Secretary for Transport Christa Kranzl yesterday regarding statements made about the Danube navigation project east of Vienna. Despite repeated attempts by WWF to clarify its position of not supporting the project, Kranzl appeared on a daily news show and reported that the environmental NGO was a supporter of a project. » Read more

The Danube: living river or transport canal?
Green = areas of high ecological value;
Red = EU priority sections ("bottlenecks") for inland navigation (TEN-T);
Brown = other navigation projects (supported e.g. by EU ISPA programme and by Ukrainian Government).

Listen to WWF's Wild Talk: Hubert von Goisem tells why he went singing and sailing along the Danube

The Danube Delta is one of the most valuable natural areas on earth, including the world's largest reed beds and a globally important resting and breeding place for birds.
Heavy navigation threatens the Danube River ecosystem. Barge navigating along the Danube River, Slovakia.
Hubert von Goisern and WWF members on tourboat

Stories and photos from the Danube Campaign 2007


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