The DRP has initiated all but two of the 20 project components involving
88 activities of Phase 1 (2002-2003), with most of them already contracted.
Interim results will become available in the coming months. So far the emphasis
has been on regional level activities reflecting the DRP's focus on strengthening
regional structures; therefore excellent cooperation has been established
with the ICPDR and its Expert Groups. Now more focus can be given to those
components with national activities that will involve more national expertise
and consultants, pilot activities or training. These activities of the DRP
fall into the following categories:
• Strengthening institutions,
• Improving river basin management tools,
• Developing appropriate policy responses to support pollution reduction
activities,
• Enhancing stakeholder involvement,
• Implementing pilot activities.
The DRP is working mostly at two different levels, the policy as well as
the pilot activity level. A common question in preparing an activity has
been how does one link the results of pilot activities to the basin-wide
policy context? Using one project component (wetlands) as an example, what
can be learned from wetland restoration projects that is of relevance to
policies and measures that can be supported and disseminated at the regional
level to facilitate wetland rehabilitation throughout the DRB? The DRP is
committed to a fully transparent, interactive approach to project implementation.
Therefore, the project web page (www.icpdr.org/undp-drp) was established
early in the project and all outputs of the project (reports, maps etc.)
are being placed on the site as soon as they are available for easy public
access and comment.
This also reflects the strong emphasis on stakeholder participation that
is fundamental in the DRP. The Small Grants Programme will empower local
and national NGOs to develop innovative solutions for addressing priority
pollution problems from the "grassroots” upwards. The Danube Environmental
Forum (DEF), with DRP support, has effectively begun to expand both the
size as well as the functionality of this Danube NGO network; this was enhanced
by its first ever DEF General Assembly which was held in October 2002 in
Slovakia. In the course of the preparatory work this year, a need has been
identified for providing assistance to the ICPDR in developing a public
participation strategy for incorporating stakeholder involvement into the
Danube RBM planning process. The DRP will work to enhance the scale of activities
to meet this critical requirement of the European Union’s Water Framework
Directive (WFD.)
And not to forget the WFD: Understanding the overall importance of the WFD,
the DRP is providing support to the ICPDR that will assist DRB countries
to meet WFD requirements. With the completion of the respective EU Guidance
Documents on various aspects of WFD implementation as agreed at the recent
EU Water Directors meeting, it is timely that several project activities
are being undertaken to disseminate this EU level guidance in order to assure
their relevance at the DRB scale.
The project extensively supported the participation to the ICPDR Expert
Groups meetings. Since the beginning of the Project in 2002, the national
representatives and members of ICPDR Expert Groups from Slovakia, Croatia,
Bosnia - Herzegovina, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova and Ukraine
were supported to participate in more than 18 meetings. This includes 2
meetings per each expert group: EMIS, MLIM, APC, ECO, RBM, RBM/GIS, RBM
DGE and the Joint Danube - Black Sea Working Group, etc.
The DRP Project Steering Committee (members of the ICPDR and from UNDP/GEF)
met in the frame of the ICPDR annual Plenary Meeting held Nov. 28th and
29th 2002, and acknowledged the significant progress made in implementation
with most activities up and running. As Phase I of the DRP is a preparatory
stage that sets the basis for full implementation in Phase 2 (2004-2006),
the Project Steering Committee requested that the request for Phase 2 funding
be prepared and submitted to the GEF Council by March 2003. This will ensure
that the project will have a smooth transition between the phases assuring
consistent project activities until the end of 2006 as foreseen.