|
Black Sea and Danube Basin Partnership
|
|
|
|
The environment of the Black Sea/Danube Basin has become degraded over the past four decades. Pollution of the waters of the Black Sea and its tributaries, notably the Danube, has caused significant losses to riparian countries through reduced revenues from tourism and fisheries, loss of biodiversity, and increased water-borne diseases. Extensive studies conducted during the 1990s have shown that over-fertilization of the water bodies by nitrogen and phosphorus discharges from municipal, industrial and agricultural sources ("eutrophication") were the most significant cause of the ecological degradation that the Black Sea and the Danube River have experienced.
The Global Environment Facility (GEF) Strategic Partnership on the Black Sea and Danube Basin has been established with the cooperation of the World Bank (WB), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and other multilateral and bilateral financiers and basin countries. The Partnership aims to promote investments and capacity building to return the Black Sea/Danube Basin environment to its 1960s condition. The two elements of the Partnership are:
a) The WB Investment Fund for Nutrient Reduction in the Black Sea/Danube Basin to help finance investment projects in industrial and domestic wastewater treatment, wetland restoration and environmentally friendly agriculture (projects under implementation);
and
b)Two UNDP/UNEP Regional Projects designed to enhance the capacity of individual riparian countries and their commissions (Black Sea Commission, Danube Commission) and improve the policy framework to address Black Sea and Danube pollution.
tesr
|
|
|
RSS