WWF Press Release - Zinke Environment Consulting

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Press Release 31 January 2002
New Danube Shipping Routes Ecologically and Economically Dangerous says
WWF
Vienna, Austria - New shipping plans for the Danube River are ecologically dangerous, economically
unsound and must be halted immediately according to a new report issued today by WWF, the conservation
organization.
The WWF report, “Waterway Transport on Europe’s Lifeline, the Danube”, shows that the various plans
that are being proposed for shipping and navigation along the Danube will damage vital wetland ecosystems
all along the river. Some significant threats include even greater pressure on species such as sturgeon and
beavers, a decrease in the availability of drinking water, and increased levels of chemicals in the river. At the
same time, the WWF report underlines that the plans take no account of current economic trends related to
transport within Europe and hence do not make economic sense either.
“The new projects are clearly the largest threat to the last few remaining natural areas in this part of Europe,"
said Philip Weller, Director of WWF's Danube Carpathian Programme. “WWF is not against shipping, but we
are against those projects which make neither economic nor ecological sense."
Ecological damage could be averted if the plans, developed by bodies including the European Commission,
national governments bordering the Danube, and the Budapest-based inter-governmental Danube
Commission, had taken account of current economic and technical trends. The WWF report shows that the
plans are based on outdated technical arguments and that ecologically compatible river navigation is possible
on Europe's major rivers, without the need for massive building, dredging, or river straightening works. At the
same time, new ship-building technologies and information and communication systems can increase the
productivity of inland navigation and ensure that it is competitive with the road transport industry.
The plans for the Danube are not only against common sense, but they also conflict with national,
international and EU nature protection regulations, and directly contradict recent commitments in the region.
Regional commitment to protect the Danube peaked in April 2001 with the WWF-organized Summit on
Environment and Sustainable Development in the Carpathian and Danube Region in Bucharest, Romania.
There, the UK’s Prince Philip and Presidents from nine countries in the region adopted a joint Declaration
expressing their support for rehabilitating the Danube.
“Experiences with Europe’s Rhine River prove that an intelligent shift is possible,” says Helmut Hiess, a key
contributor to the report. “In addition, the Rhine, with far heavier water transport than the Danube, has a
minimum channel depth of 2.1 metres; the proposed depth for the Danube is 3.2 metres. The numbers do not
add up; in fact they reflect the lack of logic behind these plans."
For more information, please contact:
Paul Csagoly, Communications Manager, WWF Danube Carpathian Programme Office, tel: +36 30 250 5869,
email: pc@wwf.at
Lisa Hadeed: Communications Manager WWF Living Waters Programme, tel: +41 22 364 9030, email:
lhadeed@wwfint.org
This press release and associated material can be found on www.panda.org

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Notes to Editors:
To view the press release, a backgrounder, maps, the Executive Summary of the report and the full
Report, go to: www.panda.org/livingwaters and www.panda.org/europe/freshwater.
For more about WWF's Danube Carpathain Programme: www.panda.org/danube-carpathian.
A B-roll showing biodiversity around the river, dams, general shots of the Danube is available from Paul
Csagoly (tel: +36 30 250 5869, email: pc@wwf.at)
More About the Danube
The Danube is an international waterway running 2,414 km from Bavaria to the Danube Delta. It is part of the
Rhine-Main-Danube link between the North Sea and Black Sea. The Danube River Basin is the most
international river basin in the world, draining the lands of 17 countries and home to 80 million people. Some
20 million people depend directly on the basin as a source of clean drinking water.