UNIS/OUS/007
9 February 2010
Media Advisory
ICPDR Ministerial Meeting to Adopt Danube Basin River Management Plan
VIENNA, 9 February (UN Information Service) - Ministers and high-level representatives responsible for the water management in the Danube River Basin from Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Montenegro, the Republic of Moldova, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Ukraine and the European Commission will attend a Ministerial Meeting of States Parties to the Danube River Protection Convention, hosted by the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River on 16 February in Vienna, Austria.
The Ministerial Meeting is expected to adopt the Danube River Basin Management Plan, which outlines concrete measures to be implemented by the year 2015 to improve the environmental condition of the Danube and its tributaries. The measures include the reduction of organic and nutrient pollution, offsetting environmentally detrimental effects of man-made structural changes to the river, improvements to urban wastewater systems, the introduction of Phosphate-free detergents in all markets and effective risk management of accidental pollution. Further, measures to restore river continuity for fish migration as well as the reconnection of wetlands will be tackled. The plan takes a source-to-sea approach and addresses key requirements of the European Union Water Framework Directive.
Flood action plans for the 17 sub-basins in the Danube catchment area will also be adopted. These sub-basin plans contain hundreds of concrete measures the Danube countries will take to protect their populations from floods and to mitigate the flood damage and losses, such as those caused by the massive floods in the years 2002, 2005 and 2006.
Date: Tuesday, 16 February 2010
Press briefing at 13:00 hours
Photo opportunity at 08:30 hours
Where: ARES Tower / Wolke 19
Donau-City-Straße 11 / 19th floor
1220 Vienna, Austria
ICPDR President Mitja Bricelj will hold a press briefing at 13:00 hours. The participating Ministers are expected to attend the press briefing and will be available for individual interviews. The opening of the Ministerial Meeting from 09:00 - 09:30 is also open to the media.
Photos of the Ministers and representatives holding a giant Danube Basin puzzle (photo opportunity at 08:30 hours) can be downloaded free of charge from the ICPDR website at www.icpdr.org from 12:00 hours on 16 February.
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For further information and interview requests with participating Ministers and high-level representatives, please contact:
Jasmine
Bachmann
ICPDR Secretariat at UNOV
Mobile: (+43-676) 845 200 220
E-mail:
jasmine.bachmann@unvienna.org
Website:
www.icpdr.org
Sonja
Wintersberger
Deputy to the Director, UNIS Vienna
Telephone: (+43-1) 26060-3430
Email:
sonja.wintersberger@unvienna.org
