The recent catastrophic floods in the Danube and Elbe River Basins claimed
casualties and caused severe damages in many European countries. They reminded
us of the latent threats stemming from inappropriate water management. Representatives
of the affected countries’ governments and key representatives of the
European Commission met in Berlin this August and agreed to strengthen their
efforts to cope with future flood hazards. This was immediately followed
by the German Flood Conference, held in Berlin on 15 September 2002.
At that meeting, the German Federal Government presented its Five-Point
Programme to improve flood defence. The ICPDR representatives participated
at the German Flood Conference and in line with the spirit of the Five-Point
Programme the ICPDR Expert Meeting on Flood Protection was reconvened. The
2nd ICPDR Expert Meeting on Flood Protection was held in Vienna on 17 October
2002. Participants in the meeting stressed the need to accelerate the development
of the Action Programme for Sustainable Flood Prevention in the Danube River
Basin as described in the ICPDR Joint Action Plan. They proposed that the
Action Programme should be worked out on the level of the basin and the
sub-basin. If applicable, the borders of the sub-basins should match those
agreed in the preparation of the Danube River Basin Management Plan according
to the EU WFD. The experts also designed the tasks for both levels of the
Action Programme.
At the 5th Ordinary Meeting of the ICPDR, which was held on 28/29 November
2002, the ICPDR agreed with the establishment of an Expert Group for Flood
Protection to develop an Action Programme for Sustainable Flood Protection
in the Danube River Basin until October 2004. In its activities the group
should also take into account the initiative of the European Water Directors
on flood protection. The ICPDR Contracting Parties also agreed to cooperate
with the LISFLOOD Programme of the European Commission, which focuses on
the development of a real-time flood forecasting model for the Danube River
Basin and on the preparation of impact assessment reports. Cooperation with
the LISFLOOD Programme will take into account existing models used in the
Danube countries.
Another important event following up on the Berlin meetings is the Budapest
Initiative on Sustainable Flood Management. At the meeting held in Budapest
on 1 December 2002, the prime ministers of Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic,
Slovakia, Germany, Austria, Romania and the European Commission adopted
the Declaration of the Budapest Initiative as a joint statement by the heads
of delegations calling for the strengthening of international cooperation
in flood management. The ICPDR participated in the preparatory activities
of the Budapest Initiative. At the prime ministerial meeting, the ICPDR
President informed the participants about the current flood policy of the
ICPDR and supported the Initiative. The Declaration clearly recognizes the
role of river basin commissions in the preparation of action plans and creates
a sound basis for concerted flood management activities in future.