Danube Campaign
EU transport plans for the Danube
As part of its Trans-European Network for Transportation, the EU has identified the Danube as one of the key transportation arteries for Europe. The EU plans call for removing a series of "bottlenecks" to shipping along the river -- areas that happen to be the most valuable natural areas on the river.
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Living river or transport corridor?
Current plans for developing navigation on the Danube disregard the river's many other uses and benefits. Navigation has been and always will be one of the main human uses of the Danube River and its many tributaries, but it is not the only one.
Some types of navigation vessels are environmentally suited to the dynamic conditions of the Danube, causing no to minimal side effects. Large vessels, however, can pose a problem if they require changing or upsetting the river's natural conditions - for example, deepening or straightening the river.
According to the authoritative Danube River Basin Analysis 2004, developed by the Vienna-based International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR) and 13 Danube countries, navigation has regrettably been one of if not the greatest causes of environmental degradation on the Danube, mainly due to activities that have deepened, dammed or straightened the river.
The report further warns that a number of future navigation projects could cause further environmental damage to the Danube, especially the river's last free-flowing (non-dammed) sections.
Further damage to the river's natural areas could have farreaching impacts, including intensifying flooding -- which has already been increasing in frequency and intensity in recent years -- and removing the river's ability to remove pollution.
Consideration of transportation on the Danube must take into account the myriad of other uses, benefits and services that the river provides, from fishing, rest and recreation to flood protection and biological diversity.
The Danube must remain a living river, not just a transport corridor.