National Administration Romanian Waters as a leader of Danube Floodplain project organized the first national and local stakeholders meeting in Craiova city, Dolj County, on December 5, 2018 at the headquarters of Jiu Water Basin Administration. The meeting was atended by 50 persons representing national authorities for water management and protected areas, representative of prefecture, local authorities (interested mayors), land owners and land users  and NGOs.

The aim of the meeting was to inform the participants about the objectives, activities, deliveries and outputs of the Danube Floodplain project. The meeting also was an opportunity to discuss with the local stakeholders different possible solutions for floodplain resoration in the Bistret area, proposed as pilot project in Romania. The pilot project will test and evaluate the effectiveness of local conservation and restoration measures to reduce flood risk and improve ecosystem services.

During the meeting the local and national stakeholders got a better understanding of the linkage between biodiversity, ecosystems and human well-being. In this respect, stakeholders were presented with proposal for solutions for the restoration of the Danube meadow in the Bistreţ area (Dolj County), highlighting the goods and services of the ecosystems that are essential and valuable for the society.

Historical and recent adjustments to dams and dikes, disruption of longitudinal and lateral connectivity, changes in land use patterns that have taken place along the Danube basin have resulted in a massive reduction of meadow land. The reduction of these areas by up to 68% in the last 100 years has had disastrous effects both for local communities that have been exposed to floods and biodiversity. The Danube meadow has always played a role in natural protection against floods caused by rapid floods and spills, and the decrease of its surface along with the torrential rains caused by climate change, has caused massive flooding in Europe since 2002. At the same time, the reduction of the meadow areas has caused the loss of habitats for many species, the loss of connections between ecosystems and implicitly the decrease of biodiversity, a wealth of these areas in the past.