Stakeholders' Forum in Kopačevo, Croatia Marks Another Milestone in Preparing FAIRway 2 Project
Kopačevo, Croatia - In a stride toward sustainable waterway management, the recent Stakeholder Forum meeting of the "Preparing FAIRway 2 works in the Rhine-Danube corridor" project, held on 27 September 2023, in Kopačevo, Croatia, proved to be an important step. It was the first face-to-face meeting of stakeholders opening the way for personal discussions and reinforcing the commitment of Croatian and Serbian waterway managers to an integrated planning process for possible future interventions explored in the project.
The project “Preparing FAIRway 2 works in the Rhine-Danube corridor”, valued at €3,292,000.00 and co-financed by the European Union, focuses on the continuous development of the Danube waterway infrastructure in an efficient, sustainable and user-oriented way. Initiated in July 2020, the project is a collaborative effort of transport ministries of three Danube countries, Austria, Serbia and Croatia.
Central to the Forum’s related topics are monitoring and modelling activities on the common Croatian-Serbian section of the Danube. Monitoring hydrological, hydraulic and morphological parameters, inventorying biodiversity components, as well as subsequent modelling activities investigating potential variants for works interventions are among the key elements receiving special attention.
The involvement of relevant stakeholders is one of the essential requirements of an integrated planning process as defined in the Joint Statement on Guiding Principles for the Development of Inland Navigation and Environmental Protection in the Danube River Basin. Therefore, a dedicated Stakeholder Forum has been established to accompany the activities on the common Croatian-Serbian Danube, with the goal to facilitate information exchange with interested stakeholders and to enable interdisciplinary cooperation. The main purpose of the Forum is not only to acquaint and update the interested stakeholders about the project results, but also to allow them to shape these results through their expert feedback.
The recent sixth forum, held on September 27, 2023, in Kopačevo, Croatia, marked the first in-person meeting, providing an opportunity for face-to-face discussions. The Forum witnessed the active participation of key environmental and administrative stakeholders.
Representatives from Oikon and associated partners presented the monitoring activities carried out on the common Danube section, covering aspects such as the inventory of river regulation infrastructure, riverbed cross-section measurements and partial results from environmental monitoring activities. The use of GIS to visualise data was demonstrated, providing a tangible presentation of the ongoing monitoring efforts was appreciated. The promise of expanded hydrological data at the next Forum increased the anticipation.
PLOVPUT, the Serbian waterway administration, presented an approach to comprehensive hydraulic modelling for the Danube waterway to be carried out in future, adding a technical layer to the discussions. Meanwhile, WWF Adria, Croatian Waters, and the Provincial Institute for Nature Protection shared insights into the protection of the area and related project implementations. The heart of the forum was the lively discussions that followed each presentation. The event underlined the importance of effective communication and shared insights, and marked a significant step towards an interdisciplinary cooperation in shaping sustainable approaches to waterway management.
The event concluded with a field trip to Kopački Rit, a nature protected area located along the Danube river. The Nature Park served as an excellent location to highlight the importance of the river for both inland waterway navigation and environmental protection. The trip provided an insightful on-site experience underlining the importance of coordinated efforts between waterway administrations and nature protection organisations in finding a sustainable way of transportation with minimal environmental impact .
DISC (Danube Information Services Conference) '22 - Bucharest (RO)
The Danube Information Services Conference was held in Bucharest on December 14 and 15, 2022 under the headline "Innovative Solutions for a good navigation status- INNOways4WW". The event was organized by GIS Forum Danube (https://gisforumdanube.org/). Experts from the entire Danube region were participating and presenting the latest technologies, the perspective of companies and current implementation projects. In this scope the project and in particular the specification of WAMOS 2.0 was presented by Susanne Bachl (viadonau,AT).
11th Symposium Nature Part Kopački Rit - Presentation of Monitoring Activities
On 29 and 30 September 2022, the "Kopački Rit Nature Park" in cooperation with various institutions in field of agrobiotechnic, education, biology, chemistry, nature protection and medicine invited to the 11th Symposium "Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow" in Osijek. Within the framework of this event, there were 68 presentations on various topics and a poster exhibition on national, trans-boundary and international projects and initiatives with 45 representatives.
The project and in particular the monitoring activities were presented by Lidija Hubalek (MMPI, HR) and Lana Deraković-Rakas (MMPI, HR). The exhibited poster can be downloaded as a PDF here.
More information about the event here (in Croatian)!
13th Joint Statement Meeting - Presentation of Monitoring, Modelling and WAMOS 2.0
During the 13th "Follow-up Meeting of the Joint Statement on Guiding Principles for the Development of Inland Navigation and Environmental Protection in the Danube Region" in Budapest (hybrid), parts of the project were presented. The key topics of the event were climate change adaptation and ecologically sound river engineering as well as the challenges associated with climate change.
As these challenges require adequate and modern monitoring tools, Susanne Bachl (viadonau) presented the waterway monitoring system "WAMOS 2.0", the WAMOS predecessor as well as planned innovations and functions. The motto of all this is: common endeavour for harmonised Danube waterway data. You can download the presentation here.
Similarly under the slogan common endeavour, the project partners Ivan Mitrovic (MGSI, RS) and Lidija Hubalek (MMPI, HR) introduced the study in the joint Croatian-Serbian section of the Danube. Information on the planned monitoring activities and the procurement procedure as well as the hydraulic and morphological modelling activity was presented. Furthermore, the Stakeholder Forum, which was established as an expert consultative body within the framework of these two activities, was outlined. The presentation can be found here.
More information about the event here!
2nd Advisory Committee Meeting in Brüssel
On 9 June, the second meeting of the Joint Advisory Committee of the two CEF co-financed projects "FAIRway works! in the Rhine-Danube Corridor" and "Preparing FAIRway 2 works in the Rhine-Danube Corridor" took place in Brussels for the first time in a hybrid setting.
Important milestones of our project were highlighted, such as the Stakeholder Forum, which was established within the framework of this project.
For more information on FAIRway works! click here!
Newsletter
Check out our 1st Newsletter!
It covers updates on the ongoing project activities, general information of the project as well as information on the project's Stakeholders Forum.
It is available for download here.
The first Advisory Committee Meeting held on 9 March 2021 in a digital format kicked off two new CEF co-financed projects “Preparing FAIRway 2 works” and “FAIRway works!”. Expectations are high, as their predecessor “FAIRway Danube” is a CEF flagship initiative for coordinated Danube rehabilitation activities.
Upgrading a public mooring place in Linz, photo: © viadonau/Johannes Zinner
Modern navigation plus sustainable river engineering
One of the most important activities in the framework of “FAIRway works! in the Rhine-Danube Corridor” is the upgrade of the Serbian navigational lock Iron Gate II, planned for 2022-2023, which will be implemented without serious interruptions for the navigation. The current state of the lock jeopardises the safety and reliability of the operations, therefore the works foreseen in this project are essential to ensure that a Good Navigation Status is achieved and maintained. While Serbia will also procure one multifunctional marking vessel, one surveying vessel and monitored buoys in the framework of the project, the initiatives in Austria address the upgrade of three public mooring places in Linz, Wildungsmauer and Vienna. The construction works in Linz started in December 2020 and aim to improve the safety and the environmental performance of mooring operations. Another activity celebrating first success, is the procurement of multifunctional marking equipment with delivery of the lighter and contract signature for the pusher in March 2021. The new marking equipment will improve surveying data and enable faster marking operations, in particular in the free-flowing sections Wachau and East of Vienna.
While “FAIRway works! in the Rhine-Danube Corridor” focuses on the technical implementation of modernising the Danube waterway, the project „Preparing FAIRway 2 works in the Rhine-Danube Corridor“ carries out as a joint undertaking with Croatia and Serbia preparatory works for the potential river engineering measures along the critical bottlenecks on the Croatian-Serbian common Danube section.
Flagship projects with ecological responsibility
The modernisation push generated by the new cross-border projects on the Danube ensures a lot of enthusiasm among the project partners, especially due to the important cross-border connection of economic and ecological interests. Vera Hofbauer (Austrian Federal Ministry of Climate Action) is convinced that “both projects not only contribute to the realisation of the Green Deal through the promotion of Danube navigation, but will also contribute to the realisation of the biodiversity strategy by means of integrated planning on the Croatian-Serbian border stretch”.
The new Rhine-Danube Coordinator, Inés Ayala Sender, welcomes the projects in the CEF portfolio and explains that expansion of the European core transport network to the Western Balkan, as addressed by both projects, is essential for a seamless and effective transport in Europe because “transport does not stop at EU borders”.
For Herfried Leitner (Pro Danube International) the safety and reliability of the waterway are an important basis for its future. He endorses the presented projects and explains: “Danube navigation sector very much appreciates the two new project initiatives, which ensure the decrease of waiting times at the Serbian Iron Gate II locks, provide better marking and information services and enhance safety and sustainability of mooring operations.”
Arno Mohl from WWF Austria urges to act responsible in dealing with the Croatian-Serbian common Danube section and reminds: „It is one of the best-preserved Danube stretches with the largest floodplain forests along the whole Danube with a unique biodiversity and key protected areas as well as an essential part of the prospective world´s first 5-country Biosphere Reserve Mura-Drava-Danube. Hence, WWF urges that the planned interventions must not lead to any negative ecological impacts on this outstanding area.“
Guided by the Joint Statement on Inland Navigation and Environmental Sustainability in the Danube River Basin, and in compliance with the EU environmental legislation,the project partners will monitor parameters relevant to the work for the fairway upgrade together with environmental characteristics for the catalogue of biodiversity components of the common Danube section. Thecollected data will be used for modelling and multi-criteria analysis. The project will deliver models, define and prioritise critical sections for possible future works on the common Danube section and, on the basis of multi-criteria analysis, the works variants will be assessed and next steps will be defined. All activities will be done in a close cooperation with a multidisciplinary Stakeholder Forum being currently formed and including relevant experts from the inland navigation sector and nature protection NGOs.
Further to the activities on the Croatian-Serbian common Danube section, and under the coordination of viadonau (Austria), the project partners will assess requirements, identify possible measures and prepare plans for future construction and upgrading of public mooring places infrastructure in Austria, Croatia and Serbia along with the new concepts for an improved Stakeholders’ Coordination and enhancement of Waterway Monitoring System functionalities.
About the projects
Both projects are co-financed by the Connecting Europe Facility of the European Union. They aim to improve navigation conditions on the Danube and support involved countries to maintain a “Good Navigation Status” and to reach minimum requirements for rivers and canals by 2030 as set in the TEN-T Regulation (EU) No 1315/2013, while preserving a “Good Ecological Status”.
Further Information:
FAIRway Works! in the Rhine-Danube Corridor: www.fairwayworks.org
Preparing FAIRway 2 works in the Rhine-Danube Corridor: www.preparingfairway2.org
The contents of this publication are the sole
responsibility of the project coordinator and
do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the
European Union.
