evaluation of the study visit - Mekong River Commission

MRC Study Visit to the Danube River Basin 2012
4.1.1 Presentations and experts
The excursion to the national park started with a presentation on the EU Water Framework Directive
(WFD). Presentations where given by Fresh-Thoughts staff covering the following aspects of the
WFD:
� General Principles of the water Framework Directive
o Overall Objectives
o Main Principles
o River Basin Management Approach
o Common Implementation Strategy
� Implementation Process
o Timeline
o Planning Process
o WFD requirements
o Water Pricing
� Lessons learned – 10 years later implementation experiences
The presentation was then followed by a contribution on managing large river basins towards
integration and joint aims, comparing the Mekong and Danube. The presentation covered the
following aspects
� Role of international River Basin Management
� Comparison Mekong and Danube River Basins
� Basic facts and figures
� Management frameworks in River Basins
� Significant Water Management Issues
� Difference in RBM between the Mekong and Danube Basin
� Examples of good transboundary cooperation
4.1.2 Summary
The WFD commits the European Union Member States to achieve good qualitative and quantitative
status of all water bodies (including marine waters up to one nautical mile from shore) by 2015. It is a
framework in the sense that it prescribes steps to reach common goals rather than adopting the
more traditional limit value approach. Thus, to achieve 'good surface water status' both the
ecological status and the chemical status of a surface water body need to be at least 'good'.
Ecological status refers to the quality of the structure and functioning of aquatic ecosystems of the
surface waters and is defined locally as being lower than a theoretical reference point of pristine
conditions, i.e. in the absence of anthropogenic influence.
The WFD requires River Management Plans covering a six year planning cycles. Draft River Basin
Management Plans have to be published for public consultation. Article 14 of the WFD requires
Member States "to encourage the active involvement of interested parties" in the implementation of
it.
The implementation of the WFD raised and raises a number of shared technical challenges for the EU
Member States, the Commission, stakeholders and NGOs. In addition, many of the European river
[3]