No new dams in ecologically sensitive parts of rivers in Danube basin

NGOs throughout the region welcomed the adoption of Guiding Principles for Sustainable Hydropower for the Danube basin at a high-level meeting of the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River in Sarajevo recently. epresentatives of Danube basin countries, including Austria, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Croatia and BiH adopted guidelines for reducing the ecological damage of new hydropower projects.

The document recommends keeping particularly sensitive river sections such as protected areas, stretches of high ecological status or headwaters free of hydropower development. It also promotes proper planning at national and regional levels in other sections of rivers. The Guiding Principles also suggests that hydropower plants must reduce damage to fish populations and other freshwater organisms as far as possible and explains how this can be achieved. 

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• » Guiding Principles on Sustainable HydropowerFollowing a request by the Danube Ministerial Conference 2010, the ICPDR has become active in initiating a dialogue with representatives from the hydropower sector. As an essential step in this process, "Guiding Principles on Sustainable Hydropower Development in the Danube Basin" have been developed by an interdisciplinary team and were finalised and adopted in June 2013.