Nature threatened

In addition to the 83 million people that live in the river basin, the Danube supports unique habitats and globally important species of flora and fauna, including the White pelican and Beluga sturgeon. River regulation, dredging and construction are planned on the most ecologically valuable sections of the river.

While large sections of the Upper Danube in Austria and Germany have been regulated, the lesser-intervened areas of the middle and lower Danube and the Danube Delta feature a highly rich and unique biological diversity that has been lost in most other European river systems.

Particularly the lower and middle parts of the river are home to a string of internationally important areas, such as the Kopacki Rit wetlands at the confluence with the Drava river in Croatia, virtually the entire lower stretch of the river, and the spectacular Danube Delta. These areas are particularly important for fish and fowl.

66% of existing or proposed EU Natura 2000 sites, the core zone of the Ukrainian Danube Delta, 19 Important Bird Areas (IBAs), and 11 Ramsar sites totaling ca. 70,000 ha are threatened by unsustainable navigation plans.

Of 330 species of birds that make their home on the Danube, 223 are mentioned on the “red list” of strictly protected under the Bern Convention, including e.g. 70% of the world’s populations of White pelicans and 60% of the world’s Pygmy cormorants. The lower Danube and Danube Delta are especially important as breeding and resting places for hundreds of species of birds, including the rare Dalmatian pelican and the White tailed eagle, as well as 90% of the world population of Red-breasted goose.

The Danube is one of Europe’s richest rivers in terms of fish, home to 103 fish species including 7 fish species that are found nowhere else in the world.  5 of the 6 sturgeon species that were once native to the Danube are extinct or close to extinction, including the gigantic Beluga (Huso huso), which can grow to the size of a small bus.