Transcript EUSDR and the Romanian Scientific Community

The European Union Strategy for the
Danube Region
and
Romanian Scientific Community
The Danube River is the largest river in the EU (~2 850 km in length); its
drainage basin (~817.000 km2) is shared by eight EU countries (Germany,
Austria, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Bulgaria and
Romania) and six non-EU countries (Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Montenegro, Ukraine and Moldova) with a population over 115 million .
The region is facing numerous problems as: environmental threats,
insufficient energy and transport connections, uneven socio-economic
development as well as some life safety and security problems.
The Danube River is part of the largest river – delta – sea system of
European Union. The other two components of the system are:
• The Danube Delta (~5 800 km2) shared by Romania (~80%) and
Ukraine (~20%)
• The Black Sea (~420.000 km2) with six riparian countries: Bulgaria,
Romania, Ukraine, Russian Federation, Georgia and Turkey
The three components of the system (the Danube River, the Danube
Delta and the Black Sea) strongly interact and influence each other
Ukraine
Russian Fed.
Romania
Black Sea
Turkey
Georgia
Bulgaria
The European Union Strategy for the Danube Region (EUSDR) was
launched in June 2011. It aims to implement an integrative policy in the
region and to enhance cross-border cooperation for achieving a real
sustainability.
The main objectives of EUSDR are: (1) connectivity; (2) protecting the
environment; (3) building prosperity; and (4) strengthening the Danube
Region.
The EUSDR comprises 11 Priority Areas:
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To improve mobility and intermodality *
To encourage more sustainable energy
To promote culture and tourism, people to people contacts*
To restore and maintain the quality of water
To manage environmental risks*
To preserve biodiversity, landscapes and the quality of air and soils
To develop the knowledge society
To support the competitiveness of enterprises
To invest in people and skills
To step up institutional capacity and cooperation and
To work together to tackle security and organised crime.
The Scientific Support to the EUSDR, as it was defined by JRC, focuses on:
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Environmental protection: climate changes and consequences on
ecosystems state, anthropogenic activities and their impact on
environment; degradation of biodiversity and deforestation, major
floods etc.;
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Water use and agriculture development: In compliance with the EU
Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) there are needs (1) to develop
models of integrated landscape management of the river basin and
sustainable land use balancing socio-economic development and
protection of nature and (2) to establish a water abstraction
management concept with special attention to water demand
management using new efficient and sustainable water saving irrigation
techniques.
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Navigability: Development of new and more sustainable waterway
management policies as the Danube River is a major inland waterway
from the Black Sea to the North Sea (the 7th transport corridor).
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Energy production: Extensive and sustainable use of renewable
energies, including the bioenergy, according to the huge natural
potential of the Danube Region. Establishment of a common energy
market.
International conventions and organisations
in charge with the environmental and sustainable management
of the Danube River – Danube Delta – Black Sea System (1)
The Danube River
Environmental protection
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1985 - the Bucharest Declaration on Water Management of the Danube
River.
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1991 - the Danube River Protection Convention (DRPC). The DRPC and
the Water Framework Directive (WFD) of the EU became the major
legal instrument for cooperative cross-boundary water management in
the Danube Basin. The DRPC came into force in October, 1998.
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1991 - the Environmental Programme for the Danube Basin (EPDRB).
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1991 - the Integrated River Basin Management (IRBM) in the Danube.
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1998 - the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube
River (ICPDR) was established for implementing the stipulations of
DRPC, and EPDRB as well as to ensure the sustainable and equitable
management of water resources in the Danube Basin.
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2007 – the European Floods Directive – integrated flood management.
International conventions and organisations (2)
The Danube River
Navigation
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1856 - The Danube River European Commission was established for
ensuring and improving international navigation on the lower
reaches of the river and the general socio-economic development of
the region.
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1938 - the Administration of the Lower Danube, under the
coordination and control of Romania. The Administration was
closed in 1940 according to the so called “Vienna Agreement”.
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1948 - the International Convention of navigation on the Danube
River, signed in Belgrade.
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1954 - the Intergovernmental Danube Commission was established
in Budapest, Hungary. The Intergovernmental Danube Commission
is in charge with ensuring optimal conditions for international
navigation on the Danube River. One of the operational units of the
Commission is the Fluvial Administration of the Lower Danube
located in Galati, Romania.
International conventions and organisations (3)
The Danube Delta
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1990 - the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve (DDBR) and the Danube
Delta Biosphere Reserve Authority (DDBRA) were established in
Tulcea under the coordination of the Romanian Ministry of
Environment.
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1998 - the Danube Biosphere Reserve for the Ukrainian part of the
delta (Kilia Delta) was established in Vylkovo under the coordination
of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.
The Black Sea
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1992 - The Convention on the Protection of the Black Sea against
Pollution (Bucharest Convention). Ratified in the 1994.
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1996 - the Strategic Action Plan for the Environmental Protection and
Rehabilitation of the Black Sea . Updated in 2002 and 2009.
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2004 - the Commission on the Protection of the Black Sea Against
Pollution (the Black Sea Commission or BSC) with its Permanent
Secretariat were established as intergovernmental bodys of
coordination.
Romanian projects to support EU Strategy for Danube Region
1. Short and medium term projects
1.A - Global Change Atlas of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region –
a tool for the stakeholders in the decision-making process.
The project is proposed by the Institute of Geography of Romanian Academy
in collaboration with the Ludwig-Maximilians University, Munich
Main objectives:
• The Atlas will reflect the current and future situation of the Danube Basin
within a global change perspective
• The Atlas will be a tool for decision makers from Danube countries to
respond to the challenges of a changing environment
• The Atlas will be a product responsive to the local, national and regional
stakeholders’ requirements and to assure visibility of the Strategy
• It will contribute to clearly distinguish the threats and opportunities for
the development of the Danube Region community
• The Atlas will identify critical areas in terms of environmental degradation,
industrial decline, poverty and conflicts
1. Short and medium term projects (2)
1 B. Sturgeon conservation in the Danube River Basin – a complex
environmental-economic-social approach
Project proposed by the Institute of Biology of Romanian Academy in
collaboration with an international consortium
Main objectives :
• The assessment of health status for habitat and biota in the Middle and
Lower Danube (focus on fish species / and especially sturgeons and their
food resources)
• Identification of key habitats for sturgeons and commercially important
fish species and enhancement of their conservation status
• Evaluation of potential economic damage of invasive alien species on
sturgeon and commercial fishery and measures for ecological control of
the selected alien species
• Promotion of sustainable fishery and non-destructive caviar production
by introducing „green labelling”
• Ecological education and promotion of green tourism; identification of
alternative income sources for local communities; awareness raising
regarding the need to conserve the biodiversity of the Danube River
Basin
1. Short and medium term projects (3)
1.C. Aquatic Biodiversity Station in Sulina – Danube Delta
Project proposed by the Institute of Biology of Romanian Academy
1.D. Danube River Research and Management - DREAM
Project proposed by BOKU Vienna, Austria, in collaboration with the
University of Civil Engineering of Bucharest, National Institute of Marine
Geology and Geo-ecology - GeoEcoMar in Romania and other institutes and
universities from all Danube riparian countries.
Main objectives:
• Construction of two large Responsible River Modelling Centers/hydraulic
and environmental engineering laboratories (5000 l/s flow capacity)
• Formation of a cluster of river engineering simulation tools
• Establishment of a network of field study sites along the Danube River and
tributaries
• Construction and operation of a research vessel with diving shaft
• Establishment of a network of existing and extended Danube River
Research Institutions
2. Long term projects
2.1 Danube International Centre for Advanced Studies
in the River – Delta – Sea systems
Case study: Danube River – Danube Delta – Black Sea System
a Pan-European Research Infrastructure
The Danube International Centre will answer to the:
To Priority Areas of the E.U. Strategy for the Danube Region as:
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The Priority Area 7 - Specific Action of the Danube Strategic Action Plan
already mentioned: “To strengthen the capacities of research
infrastructure: To establish joint international research centres for
advanced studies” - a project proposed by Romania focusing the Danube
River and the Danube Delta.
Connecting the Danube Region (added value – interconnection with ALL
Europe);
Protecting the Environment in the Danube Region;
Building prosperity in the Danube Region;
Strengthening the Danube Region
To Europe 2020 strategy – all 5 major goals (employment, innovation,
education, poverty reduction and climate/energy)
The Danube International Centre for Advanced
Studies for Rivers – Deltas – Seas
 Will represent a new Pan-European Research Infrastructure that
would gather and integrate excellent expertise and facilities in
Europe;
 Will represent the needed HUB for a new European focus to
characterize a complex river-delta-sea system of continental
importance (Danube – Black Sea) and interconnect other
centres dealing with less complex systems around Europe
(NODES)
 The Danube International Centre for Advanced Studies for
Rivers – Deltas – Seas would provide excellent accessibility to
the most important and true Natural Laboratory in Europe :
Lower Danube – Danube Delta – Black Sea.
The Danube International Centre for
Advanced Studies for Rivers – Deltas – Seas
is not only the solution to European political
priorities – but also a needed and agreed
research infrastructure from an ever
increasing number of EU universities and
R&D institutions
Initiative
“The actors”
Present
(Near) Future
“The actors” (institutions)
Initiative
P re s e nt
Major goals
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To improve the sustainable, innovative and adaptable
management of wetlands, deltas, lagoons and coastal
ecosystems by studying in deep the processes influencing
the evolution environmental state of the River – Delta –
Sea systems
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To increase the involvement of local communities in the
sustainable management of wetlands
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To develop knowledge based economy to support the
economic growth of Danube – Danube Delta – Black Sea
region without disturbing its natural biodiversity
Scientific mission
• Assessing the river-delta-sea macrosystems`
characteristics and reference state of environment
• Global climate changes and related consequences for
river-delta-sea macrosystems
• Ecosystem response to climate change
• Effects of increasing human activities on river-delta-sea
macrosystems
• Changes in Societal Demand on river-delta-sea
macrosystems
Scientific domains
Life sciences:
- Ecosystem assessment and monitoring; restoration
strategies, nature conservation, modelling, simulation and
hypothesis testing etc.
Earth sciences:
- Origin & evolution of D-DD-BS system; geodynamic
processes; oceanography, hydrology and sedimentology;
geo-hazards and risk assessment; modelling regional
impact of climate change etc.
Socio-economic sciences:
- Assessing the changes in society demand; natural
resources assessment and valuation; anthropogenic impact
on ecosystems goods and services; development scenarios
and measures for sustainable use
Additional issues
 A. Permanent education – common international
programmes will contribute to harmonising teaching systems
across the D-DD-BS region; the ecological education will
increase awareness on the environmental values and the
need to preserve it
 B. Environmental laws and regulations – provides tools for
the implementation of EU policy for environmental protection
 C. Green products and technologies – focus on the
valorisation of natural resources in the D-DD-BS system
according to the sustainability principles
 D. Impetus for new R&D technologies and equipments and
ICT
Distributed Research Infrastructure
Node
Node
Hub
(Danube
Delta)
Node
Node
Node
Node
(Example of connecting hub and nodes in function of request)
Location of the Danube International Centre for
Advanced Studies on River – Delta – Sea Systems
Kilia
Danube Delta
Sulina
Tulcea
Sulina
St.George
International
Centre
Murighiol
WHY DANUBE DELTA?
Position: interface between the Danube River (the most
international river in the world, over 2 800km in length) and the
Black Sea
Unique place:
 the largest delta of the European Union (~6 000 km2)
 less affected by human activities
 high biodiversity (over 30 types of ecosystems)
Conservation status:
Ramsar site (1991)
Biosphere Reserve
UNESCO MAB Program
UNESCO World Heritage site
site
WHY MURIGHIOL?
Location: placed on the Danube River (St. George arm, within the
Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve, the location was selected from
11 sites)
Access facilities: by road and by the Danube River, immediate
access to the Danube Delta, access to the coastal zone and to the
Danube River.
Land availability: Murighiol Local Council approved about 10
hectares area for the Centre
Other already existing major facilities that will be used by the
Centre since the beginning
R/V “Mare Nigrum” – 3 000 tdw
R/V “Istros” – for river and
coastal sea research
Laboratory boat “Halmyris”
for the Danube Delta research
Principles of Centre’s functioning as
Pan-European distributed Research
Infrastructure
The Centre will:
 become an ERIC (European Research Infrastructure
Consortium) from the legal point of view
 have an international management
 have an International Scientific Board
 have an International General Council with participation of
Stakeholders and NGO-s
The Danube International Centre for Advanced Studies on River
– Delta – Sea Systems: case study the Danube River – Danube
Delta – Black Sea System is considered by the Romanian
Government as a project of national priority
Short term plan (end of 2013 - 2014)
Final Version of the White Book – a scientific and
structural Framework Programme of the Centre
Drilling reference borehole (100 m depth) inside
Murighiol Centre location
Designing, obtaining official approvals and starting
works on building No.1 of the Centre
2014 – application of the Danube International Centre
as ESFRI ENV Pan-European Distributed
Research Infrastructure
Mid-term plan 2014 – 2020 (structural funds construction)
Construction
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Phase 1 – late 2014 – 2015
– Basic constructions – to add to already existing
facilities and infrastructures from other partner
countries
– Buildings for field research activities on the river –
delta – sea system
– Administrative building of the Centre and office
building for scientists
– Main logistics
Mid-term plan 2014 – 2020 (structural funds construction)
Construction
Phase 2 – 2016 – 2017
– Specialized high-tech laboratories – as agreed in the
ESFRI Proposal
Phase 3 – 2018 – 2020
– Specialized high-tech laboratories – as agreed and
resulted from the Preparatory Phase.
– Research Vessels to replace existing fleet for
studying the river, delta and sea
GENERAL VIEW OF THE DANUBE INTERNATIONAL CENTRE
2. Long term projects
2.2. MARINEGEOHAZARDS - Black Sea Early-Warning System
Romania-Bulgaria cross-border project with four participating
institutes:
from Romania: the National Institute of Marine Geology and Geoecology – GeoEcoMar and the National Institute of Earth Physics;
from Bulgaria: the Institute of Oceanology – Varna and the Geological
Institute - Sophia, both from the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
The Black Sea Early-Warning System – MARINEGEOHAZARDS
will be composed of two networks forming sub-systems:
• The EUXINUS network - the Black Sea regional early
warning system to marine-geohazards
• The GeoPontica - the first on-line geodynamic surveillance
network in the entire Black Sea region
1. The EUXINUS network - the Black Sea regional early
warning system to marine-geohazards
Components of the
EUXINUS cross-border
infrastructure :
 Network of 5 complex, fully
automatic marine stations
(buoys) with automatic
equipment for measuring the
characteristics and the
dynamics of water masses .
 Interconnected, national co-ordination Centres,
located in Constanta, Romania and Varna, Bulgaria. The
Centres will be provided with common decision support
software and technical means to evaluate and forecast
marine geo-hazards
The EUXINUS network - the Black Sea regional early
warning system to marine-geohazards
(continuation)
 Regional capability for marine seismic monitoring and surveillance
comprising:
- real-time on-shore equipment (3 marine seisimicity monitoring
systems, 1 coastal gauge, 5 strong motion seismometers and 5
extensometers);
- specialized seismic devices operated from the Romanian R/V
Mare Nigrum and the Bulgarian R/V Akademic (7 Ocean Bottom
Seismometers and 1 Marine seismic acquisition system)
2. The GeoPontica network - the first on-line geodynamic
surveillance network in the entire Black Sea region
The GeoPontica network will include:
- 18 on-line geodynamic stations located along the RomanianBulgarian coast;
- 2 coordination Centres located in Constanta, Romania and Varna,
Bulgaria
With GeoPontica, the MARINEGEOHAZARD project is setting up
a cross-border infrastructure that will establish an unitary
reference system based on information from the geodetic
networks and the tide-gauges in Dobrogea – Romania and
Bulgaria.
Based on ETRS (EU Terrestrial Reference System) and EUVN
(EU Vertical Reference Network), GeoPontica will provide
information on:
• Vertical movements of the Earth crust as isostasy,
epeirogenetic up-lift, subsidence, sediment compaction;
• Horizontal movements of the Earth crust due to global
tectonics (motion of the lithosphere plates) or relative
movements of tectonic blocks;
• Changes of the mean sea level position.
The Marine-geohazards project will enter from the
beginning major EU Observing Systems and ESFRI
projects:
• LIFE WATCH - Science and technology infrastructure for
biodiversity data and observatories
• European Plate Observing System (EPOS) - Research
Infrastructure and e-Science for Data and Observatories on
Earthquakes, Volcanoes, Surface Dynamics and Tectonics.
• EURO-ARGO Research infrastructure for ocean science and
observations
• EMSO European multidisciplinary seafloor observation
infrastructure
• GOOS – Global Ocean Observing System, specifically Black
Sea GOOS, and EOS – Earth Observing System
Thank you for your attention