On Friday, the CRWA delegation met with staff of the International Commission to Protect the Danube River (ICPDR) at their Secretariat in the United Nations in Vienna. Their work to bring together the vastly different countries of the Danube basin is impressive and inspiring. Working as convenors to help implement European Union directives, ICPDR helps balance the needs and interests of the upstream watershed nations (generally wealthier and more industrialized) with the downstream watershed nations (generally poorer as less developed), as well as competing interests such as transportation, flood protection and environmental protection.
The Danube is so different from the Charles - a massive river, heavily "regulated" with dams and levees - and yet we found many of the same challenges and efforts to improve the river underway.
The trip has been wonderful - all of us have learned a lot and our ties to the international community of river protection keeps growing.
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