Harald Kothe, Sustainable water management in BRs in SEE Venice, 16-17 December 2021 Overall responsibility for the views and opinions expressed in the slides is taken by the authors

1. Sustainable water management in
biosphere reserves in SEE –
Transdisciplinary and transboundary
scientific expertise in the Danube basin
Harald Köthe
Director ICWRGC
Koblenz, Germany
MAB-IHP Regional Symposium: Managing Water Resources in Biosphere Reserves
in South East Europe and the Mediterranean | Dec. 16, 2021, Venice, Italy
International Centre for Water Resources
and Global Change (ICWRGC) -
German UNESCO Category 2 Centre and
National Secretariat to UNESCO IHP
National Secretariat to WMO HWRP

2. • Europe's second largest river basin, with a total area of 801,463 km²,
• World's most international river basin, flowing through the territory of 19 countries.
• The ecosystems of the Danube River Basin are highly valuable in environmental,
economic, historical and social terms, but they are subject to increasing pressure and
serious threats of pollution from agriculture, industry and cities.
• home to 83 million people with a wide range of cultures, languages and historical
backgrounds.
• increasing human impacts, pressure and serious pollution from agriculture, industry
and municipalities affect the water supply for communities, irrigation, hydropower
generation and industry, as well as opportunities for transportation, tourism and
fishing.
• The Danube River and many of its tributaries form the spawning grounds for many
fish, but they receive various degrees of treated wastewater from many different
sources, which ultimately ends up in the Black Sea, affecting the nutrient levels in a
large portion of its waters.
• In this sense, the River Danube is the single most important contributor to nutrient
pollution in the Black Sea.
Danube River Basin facts

3. Protected Area Network of the Danube River Basin

4. From 19 countries which have area in the Danube basin
The following countries/IHP National Committees have
signed the "Principles":
• Germany (D),
• Austria (A),
• Czech Republic (CZ),
• Slovakia (SK),
• Hungary (H),
• Slovenia (SL),
• Croatia (CR),
• Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH),
• Serbia (SR),
• Romania (RO),
• Bulgaria (BG),
• Moldova (MD),
• Ukraine (UA).
not signed the "Principles":
(with small area)
• Switzerland (CH),
• Italy (I),
• Poland (PO),
• Albania (AL),
• Macedonia (MC),
• Montenegro (MN).
The Regional Co-operation of the Danube Countries
In the frame of the UNESCO IHP since 1961

5. Regional Co-operation of the Danube Countries
in the frame of the UNESCO IHP
– IHP Danube
Cooperation of experts from 13 Danube countries with two production lines:
1. Every two years a regional conference of the Danube countries on
hydrological forecasting
2. Regional hydrological monographs and thematic projects related to the
Danube Basin.
The first conference in Budapest in 1961:
• idea to bridge the gap between two blocs – at the time 8 Danube countries were
behind the iron curtain.
• These conferences became a rich tradition as:
o the main gathering point for exchange of hydrological experiences,
o synthesis of hydrological knowledge in the Danube River Basin.

6. IHP Danube Conferences:
Hydrological Forecasting and Hydrological Bases of Water Management
Conference Year Venue
Number of
participants
% distribution by gender
men women
I 1961 Bucharest 25 100 -
II 1963 Graz 16 100 -
III 1965 Bucharest 25 98 2
IV 1967 Bratislava 16 87 13
V 1969 Belgrade 51 89 11
VI 1971 Kiev 52 94 6
VII 1973 Varna 42 85 15
VIII 1975 Regensburg 65 92 8
IX 1977 Budapest 51 82 18
X 1979 Vienna 44 87 13
XI 1982 Bucharest 58 92 8
XII 1984 Bratislava 74 93 7
XIII 1986 Belgrade 49 92 8
XIV 1988 Kiev 45 81 19
XV 1990 Sofia 48 87 13
XVI 1992 Kelheim 91 83 17
XVII 1994 Budapest 127 87 13
XVIII 1996 Graz 138 87 13
XIX 1998 Osijek 137 74 26
XX 2000 Bratislava 155 64 36
XXI 2002 Bucharest
XXII 2004 Brno
XXIII 2006 Belgrade 309 64 36
XIV 2008 Bled 272 59 41
XXV 2011 Budapest
XXVI 2014 Deggendorf
XXVII 2017 Varna
XXVIII 2019 Kiev

7. XXIX Conference of IHP Danube
September 6–8, 2021, Brno, Czechia
Brief summary
• 198 participants (185 virtual, 15 in situ)
• 55 papers presented
• Publications:
o Extended abstracts proceedings (printed and digital)
o Full papers proceedings (will be soon, digital only)
o Selected papers were published in 3 scientific journals
• The Danube Veterans Award
• The Young Scientists Award
• R programming/scripting language Workshop
Visit conference website
www.danubeconference.eu for:
• Conference proceedings
• Presentations recordings
• R workshop recordings
• Posters

8. IAD - International Association for Danube Research
- a scientific NGO
• 65 years of Aquatic Research and Cooperation in the Danube River Basin
• First IAD joint expeditions along the Danube
– 1960 – IAD Danube survey from Vienna to the Black Sea
– 1961 – IAD Danube survey from the spring to Vienna
– 1988 – IAD survey from Vienna to Vilkovo
These investigations were followed later by ICPDR Joint Danube Surveys (JDS)
in 2001, 2007, 2013, 2019
• Major topics: research, education, public awareness
• Major achievements: Danube monograph, floodplain ecology,
• macrophytes, IAS, sturgeons
• Book in prep.: “The Danube River Basin and the Western Black Sea Coast”
in the book series “Ecohydrology from Catchment to Coast”

9. Importance of river morphology

10. IAD ecological assessment
44th IAD Conference 2022
Kiev, Ukraine
– in autumn 2022
www.danube-iad.eu
Contact:
bernd.cyffka@ku.de

11. UNESCO Biosphere Reserves in the Danube basin
Source: World Network of Biosphere Reserves, 2019-2020; https://en.unesco.org/biosphere/about
Biosphere reserves are ‘learning places for sustainable development’.
They are sites for testing interdisciplinary approaches to understanding and managing changes and
interactions between social and ecological systems, including conflict prevention and management of
biodiversity.

12. UNESCO Biosphere Reserves in Germany
• Number: 16
• Total Area: >19.500 km²
• Water Area: ~6.500 km²
• Terrestrial Area: ~13.000 km²
• ~ 3,7 % of Germany (terrestrial)
Biosphere Reserves in Germany are a
category in the
Federal Nature Conservation Law
• Permanent working group of the
German BR
• coordination, exchange
• 2x/year
Core Area
Buffer Zone
Transition Area

13. • Workshop for European Biosphere Reserves:
„Towards Climate Neutrality in European Biosphere Reserves“,
29.03. – 01.04.2022, Isle of Vilm, Germany
at the International Academy for Nature Conservation,
• International Conference:
„Science and Research in, for and with UNESCO Biosphere Reserves“,
16. – 20.05.2022, Schorfheide-Chorin Biosphere Reserve
(https://www.biospherereserves.institute/research-conference)
Please contact: birthe.thormann@bfn.de
Invitation for 2 BR events in Germany
Save the Date
Photo: BfN

14. „Fresh Water BR“ Elbe river landscape in Germany
Photos kindly provided by the Biosphere Reserves
343.000
hectare,
400 km
along
river Elbe

15. Problem: Erosion and Water Level lowering
Source: https://www.gesamtkonzept-elbe.bund.de/Webs/Projektseite/GkElbe2020/DE/Home/home_node.html
Collaboration of Nature
Protection, BR and Navigation
necessary and organized in the
Common Concept Elbe (2017))

16. Climate, hydrology and ecology in future at German rivers
German BMVI Research project KLIWAS (2007-2015) paved the way for the
transdisciplinary BMVI Expert Network (since 2016 ongoing)
Multi-model approach: Ensemble of model results
https://www.kliwas.de/EN/02_FieldsOfActi
vity/04_Interdisciplinary/Kliwas/concluding
_report.pdf?__blob=publicationFile
projected changes in the
near future (2021–2050)
and
far future (2071-2100)
for several disciplines.
https://www.bmvi-
expertennetzwerk.de/EN/Home/home_node.html

17. Coverage of precipitation stations in the Danube basin
Global Precipitation and Climatology Centre (GPCC),
at DWD, Germany
# total
station
Timeseries
1951-2019*
Timeseries
1901-1951*
Austria 688 64 19
Czech Rep. 875 75 2
Germany 15638 1324 596
Bulgaria 54 21 3
Slovakia 82 46 31
Hungary 130 21 2
Serbia 45 5 1
Romania 222 13 10
*with coverage ≥ 90%
Danger in some countries:
The amount of reliable hydrological in situ measuring stations is decreasing!

18. Conclusions
• The transdisplinary approach is essiental to better understand the ecosystems, the
conflicts of interest and to manage these sustainable
• Climate and hydrology are at the beginning of the model chain to forecast and predict
the possible changes on life in the ecosystems on all time scales
• There are long-standing (more than 50 years!) scientific transboundary cooperations in
the Danube basin with big expertise:
– IHP Danube
– IAD
– MAB Reserves
which should/could collaborate more together to create synergies, provide applied
science for decision makers and political bodies (e.g. ICPDR, Danube Commission for
Navigation)
• But, these permanent transboundary scientific groups need permanent structures and
funding to survive (e.g. to organize a permanet exchange and to apply for research calls)

19. Thank you for your attention
www.waterandchange.org
icwrgc@bafg.de