Danube lowland near Hainburg, Austria
Source: K Pahlich
The Danube traverses or borders parts of nine countries and is fed by several thousand tributaries, including some of the most industrialised and highly polluted parts of Europe. Yet the Danube Delta and Valley represent one of Europe's last and most extensive wetlands in a natural state. The Danube Valley The Danube is a major international transport route with over 3500 ships passing annually through the delta. The river discharges 450 000 tonnes of nutrients per year, mostly agricultural chemicals, into the Black Sea, resulting in the loss of fisheries through algal bloom production. Untreated urban sewage discharges cause excessive pollution. Bratislava releases over half of its waste into the Danube (IUCN, 1990b). Many internationally important wetlands are identified by Grimmett and Jones (1989) along the course of the Danube. In Bavaria, 38 000 ha of riverine forest and riparian lowlands are threatened by water abstraction, tourism, agricultural intensification and lately by construction plans in the framework of the RhineMainDanube shipping route (see also Box 21B). Some of the largest remaining near-natural tracts of floodplain forest in Central Europe are found between Vienna and Hainburg (see Site 1 on Map 9.8), where the possibility of hydroelectric power generation poses a major threat. In Slovakia the Danube Water Scheme, involving a major diversion of the Danube between Bratislava and Gab(breve)cikovo, with the construction of a canal and reservoir, is supposed to be developed as the Danube Protected Landscape Area, within which careful management will be required to protect wetlands and their functional integrity. In this respect, the most important Hungarian sites are at Szigetkoz, Hansági and Gemenci. Within the area of the former Yugoslavia over 6000 hectares of flooding river marginal wetland are identified in Croatia and in Serbia (Vojvodina) comprising forests, marshes, pools and streams. Since 1993 'Kopac(breve)ki rit', also listed as a Ramsar site, is protected by law as a special reserve. A number of islands in the Danube in Bulgaria, bordering Romania, carry seasonally flooded forest and marsh habitats. The freshwater Lake Srebarna (a Ramsar Biosphere Reserve and World Heritage site) with fringing reedbeds is connected to the river and is surrounded by forests, vineyards, arable land and steppe. The Danube Delta (Romania/Ukraine) Its extensive reedbeds, maze of tributaries, canals and lakes with their great abundance of aquatic plants, its white willows and poplars, and not least its dunes with their mosaic of forests and semi-arid grasslands form a unique and important habitat complex. The Danube Delta (Site 153 on Map 9.7) ecosystem holds the majority of the world's population of two endangered species the pygmy cormorant (Phalacrocorax pygmaeus) and the red-breasted goose (Branta ruficollis). There are also significant populations of several water-bird species, whose populations have recently declined drastically, especially in Europe (Munteanu and Toniuc, 1992). The ecological and economic (fishery) system as a whole is under threat, and continued decline can be expected unless urgent measures are taken. The main causes of decline are: interference in the natural hydrological cycle through the construction of canals, dikes and polders; the overexploitation of the biological resources by overfishing and overgrazing; ill-conceived attempts at intensive agriculture, fish farming and forestry development; pollution, including eutrophication as the result of the use of fertilisers, and toxicity from the use of pesticides. In 1990, the Romanian government recognised the importance of the area by declaring an international 'Biosphere Reserve' over 442 000 ha and by establishing a Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve Authority to address the complex set of problems facing the area. A recent application for World Heritage listing was successful. In June 1994, the convention for cooperation on the protection and sustainable use of the Danube river basin was signed (see Chapters 6 and 33).
The Danube is a major international transport route with over 3500 ships passing annually through the delta. The river discharges 450 000 tonnes of nutrients per year, mostly agricultural chemicals, into the Black Sea, resulting in the loss of fisheries through algal bloom production. Untreated urban sewage discharges cause excessive pollution. Bratislava releases over half of its waste into the Danube (IUCN, 1990b).
Many internationally important wetlands are identified by Grimmett and Jones (1989) along the course of the Danube. In Bavaria, 38 000 ha of riverine forest and riparian lowlands are threatened by water abstraction, tourism, agricultural intensification and lately by construction plans in the framework of the RhineMainDanube shipping route (see also Box 21B).
Some of the largest remaining near-natural tracts of floodplain forest in Central Europe are found between Vienna and Hainburg (see Site 1 on Map 9.8), where the possibility of hydroelectric power generation poses a major threat. In Slovakia the Danube Water Scheme, involving a major diversion of the Danube between Bratislava and Gab(breve)cikovo, with the construction of a canal and reservoir, is supposed to be developed as the Danube Protected Landscape Area, within which careful management will be required to protect wetlands and their functional integrity. In this respect, the most important Hungarian sites are at Szigetkoz, Hansági and Gemenci. Within the area of the former Yugoslavia over 6000 hectares of flooding river marginal wetland are identified in Croatia and in Serbia (Vojvodina) comprising forests, marshes, pools and streams. Since 1993 'Kopac(breve)ki rit', also listed as a Ramsar site, is protected by law as a special reserve. A number of islands in the Danube in Bulgaria, bordering Romania, carry seasonally flooded forest and marsh habitats. The freshwater Lake Srebarna (a Ramsar Biosphere Reserve and World Heritage site) with fringing reedbeds is connected to the river and is surrounded by forests, vineyards, arable land and steppe. The Danube Delta (Romania/Ukraine) Its extensive reedbeds, maze of tributaries, canals and lakes with their great abundance of aquatic plants, its white willows and poplars, and not least its dunes with their mosaic of forests and semi-arid grasslands form a unique and important habitat complex. The Danube Delta (Site 153 on Map 9.7) ecosystem holds the majority of the world's population of two endangered species the pygmy cormorant (Phalacrocorax pygmaeus) and the red-breasted goose (Branta ruficollis). There are also significant populations of several water-bird species, whose populations have recently declined drastically, especially in Europe (Munteanu and Toniuc, 1992). The ecological and economic (fishery) system as a whole is under threat, and continued decline can be expected unless urgent measures are taken. The main causes of decline are: interference in the natural hydrological cycle through the construction of canals, dikes and polders; the overexploitation of the biological resources by overfishing and overgrazing; ill-conceived attempts at intensive agriculture, fish farming and forestry development; pollution, including eutrophication as the result of the use of fertilisers, and toxicity from the use of pesticides. In 1990, the Romanian government recognised the importance of the area by declaring an international 'Biosphere Reserve' over 442 000 ha and by establishing a Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve Authority to address the complex set of problems facing the area. A recent application for World Heritage listing was successful. In June 1994, the convention for cooperation on the protection and sustainable use of the Danube river basin was signed (see Chapters 6 and 33).
Within the area of the former Yugoslavia over 6000 hectares of flooding river marginal wetland are identified in Croatia and in Serbia (Vojvodina) comprising forests, marshes, pools and streams. Since 1993 'Kopac(breve)ki rit', also listed as a Ramsar site, is protected by law as a special reserve. A number of islands in the Danube in Bulgaria, bordering Romania, carry seasonally flooded forest and marsh habitats. The freshwater Lake Srebarna (a Ramsar Biosphere Reserve and World Heritage site) with fringing reedbeds is connected to the river and is surrounded by forests, vineyards, arable land and steppe. The Danube Delta (Romania/Ukraine) Its extensive reedbeds, maze of tributaries, canals and lakes with their great abundance of aquatic plants, its white willows and poplars, and not least its dunes with their mosaic of forests and semi-arid grasslands form a unique and important habitat complex. The Danube Delta (Site 153 on Map 9.7) ecosystem holds the majority of the world's population of two endangered species the pygmy cormorant (Phalacrocorax pygmaeus) and the red-breasted goose (Branta ruficollis). There are also significant populations of several water-bird species, whose populations have recently declined drastically, especially in Europe (Munteanu and Toniuc, 1992). The ecological and economic (fishery) system as a whole is under threat, and continued decline can be expected unless urgent measures are taken. The main causes of decline are: interference in the natural hydrological cycle through the construction of canals, dikes and polders; the overexploitation of the biological resources by overfishing and overgrazing; ill-conceived attempts at intensive agriculture, fish farming and forestry development; pollution, including eutrophication as the result of the use of fertilisers, and toxicity from the use of pesticides. In 1990, the Romanian government recognised the importance of the area by declaring an international 'Biosphere Reserve' over 442 000 ha and by establishing a Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve Authority to address the complex set of problems facing the area. A recent application for World Heritage listing was successful. In June 1994, the convention for cooperation on the protection and sustainable use of the Danube river basin was signed (see Chapters 6 and 33).
Its extensive reedbeds, maze of tributaries, canals and lakes with their great abundance of aquatic plants, its white willows and poplars, and not least its dunes with their mosaic of forests and semi-arid grasslands form a unique and important habitat complex. The Danube Delta (Site 153 on Map 9.7) ecosystem holds the majority of the world's population of two endangered species the pygmy cormorant (Phalacrocorax pygmaeus) and the red-breasted goose (Branta ruficollis). There are also significant populations of several water-bird species, whose populations have recently declined drastically, especially in Europe (Munteanu and Toniuc, 1992). The ecological and economic (fishery) system as a whole is under threat, and continued decline can be expected unless urgent measures are taken. The main causes of decline are: interference in the natural hydrological cycle through the construction of canals, dikes and polders; the overexploitation of the biological resources by overfishing and overgrazing; ill-conceived attempts at intensive agriculture, fish farming and forestry development; pollution, including eutrophication as the result of the use of fertilisers, and toxicity from the use of pesticides. In 1990, the Romanian government recognised the importance of the area by declaring an international 'Biosphere Reserve' over 442 000 ha and by establishing a Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve Authority to address the complex set of problems facing the area. A recent application for World Heritage listing was successful. In June 1994, the convention for cooperation on the protection and sustainable use of the Danube river basin was signed (see Chapters 6 and 33).
The Danube Delta (Site 153 on Map 9.7) ecosystem holds the majority of the world's population of two endangered species the pygmy cormorant (Phalacrocorax pygmaeus) and the red-breasted goose (Branta ruficollis). There are also significant populations of several water-bird species, whose populations have recently declined drastically, especially in Europe (Munteanu and Toniuc, 1992).
The ecological and economic (fishery) system as a whole is under threat, and continued decline can be expected unless urgent measures are taken. The main causes of decline are: interference in the natural hydrological cycle through the construction of canals, dikes and polders; the overexploitation of the biological resources by overfishing and overgrazing; ill-conceived attempts at intensive agriculture, fish farming and forestry development; pollution, including eutrophication as the result of the use of fertilisers, and toxicity from the use of pesticides. In 1990, the Romanian government recognised the importance of the area by declaring an international 'Biosphere Reserve' over 442 000 ha and by establishing a Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve Authority to address the complex set of problems facing the area. A recent application for World Heritage listing was successful. In June 1994, the convention for cooperation on the protection and sustainable use of the Danube river basin was signed (see Chapters 6 and 33).
In 1990, the Romanian government recognised the importance of the area by declaring an international 'Biosphere Reserve' over 442 000 ha and by establishing a Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve Authority to address the complex set of problems facing the area. A recent application for World Heritage listing was successful. In June 1994, the convention for cooperation on the protection and sustainable use of the Danube river basin was signed (see Chapters 6 and 33).
In June 1994, the convention for cooperation on the protection and sustainable use of the Danube river basin was signed (see Chapters 6 and 33).