Last week in Budapest, over 70 stakeholders from throughout the Danube River Basin took part in the final DanubeSediment Stakeholder Conference. Under the topic of “Transnational Cooperation for Sediment Management in the Danube”, we presented our projects results and recommendations to improve sediment management in the Danube. Participants came from wide range of sediment-related sectors working in sediment management, for example from administration, hydropower, waterways, nature protection, and research institutions.

In the morning session, we talked about building-up knowledge on the sediment regime. Sándor Baranya from BME Hungary began with a presentation of our project recommendations for good practice in sediment monitoring. Katarína Holubová from the WRI in Slovakia then discussed her findings on the sediment balance of the Danube. This was followed by a presentation on the risk that is caused for river ecology by a disbalance of sediment in the Danube by Florin Vartolomei from NARW, Romania.

In the afternoon session, our partners concentrated on good practices for governance. Christian Rusu, also from NARW, showed good practice measures to improve the sediment balance of the Danube. Prof. Helmut Habersack from BOKU, Austria presented the two major project products, the Danube Sediment Management Guidance for Policy-Makers and the Sediment Manual for Stakeholders for practitioners. All reports will be available in our Library.

During the conference, stakeholders had the chance to give their feedback and discuss how sediment management will continue after the end of the project. Furthermore, the cooperation led to several new project ideas amongst stakeholders and project partners, such as the implementation and monitoring of pilot measures to improve sediment continuity at barriers such as hydropower dams.

You will find more photos in our gallery.