IDES – Improving water quality in the Danube river basin through the introduction of integrated floodplain management and the identification of their ecosystem services
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How do floodplains in the Danube region contribute to improving water quality, and how can we integrate different interests into cross-border water management? These are the questions that will be addressed by a consortium, with funding from the European Union, led by the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt in Germany.
The project involves more than 20 institutions from ten countries in the Danube region (Germany, Austria, Romania, Hungary, Slovenia, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Serbia, Croatia and Moldova), which are participating in the project, funded by the European Union (Interreg Danube Transnational Programme). The Slovenian partners in the project are the Water Research Institute of the Republic of Slovenia and the Slovenian Forest Service, alongside the strategic partner, the Slovenian Fisheries Institute.
The aim of the project is to improve the water quality of the River Danube and its tributaries through the integrated management of floodplains and the identification of their ecosystem services. Workshops with stakeholders in five pilot areas in Austria, Slovenia, Serbia, Romania and Hungary will enable the direct, collaborative development of innovative concepts for water quality management and the verification of the IDES tool, involving local stakeholders and experts. The results and lessons learnt from using the IDES tool in the pilot areas will be compiled in the IDES Handbook and disseminated to key stakeholders in the participating countries through national workshops and training sessions. The pilot area in Slovenia will be the floodplains along the River Mura.
The IDES project has been running since the beginning of August this year, and officially launched on 8 September with a virtual kick-off event attended by key stakeholders and international project partners.
The IDES project (Improving the Water Quality of the Danube River Basin through the Introduction of Integrated Floodplain Management and the Identification of their Ecosystem Services) is co-funded by the European Union (ERDF, IPA). For more information, visit the project website: www.interreg-danube.eu/ides.
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Contacts:
Barbara Stammel, Project Manager, Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt,
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Peter Suhadolnik, project coordinator at IzVRS,
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