Photo retrieved from: www.wwf.org
“The Danube is a watery thread 2,857 kilometers (1,775 miles) long that binds the diverse peoples of 19 nations sharing its basin, weaving together economies and cultures from the richest nations of Europe to the poorest.
This month, European leaders are set to adopt a euro100 billion euro ($140 billion) Danube strategy to deepen those ties and improve the lives of 100 million people with faster transportation, cleaner water, less pollution and enhanced protection for wetlands and flood plains.
But it also envisions altering the Lower Danube to accommodate year-round navigation. Environmentalists warn this may have an irreparable impact on bird life, threaten the last breeding grounds for the majestic Danube sturgeon, and bring more polluting waterborne traffic to the Danube Delta, the largest wilderness remaining in Europe south of Scandinavia.
The Danube Strategy highlights the trade-offs needed to protect nature while advancing development, particularly among eastern European nations still lagging far behind Western living standards 20 years after the collapse of communist rule.”
Read more: Roanoke
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