Twenty years of research on water management issues in the Danube Macro-region — past developments and future directions

Abstract

The Danube River–Danube Delta–Black Sea (DBS) region has witnessed major political, social and economic changes during the past three decades, which have profoundly affected the riverine, coastal and marine systems, their water management situation and the development of related research programmes. We reviewed the research activities in the DBS system of the past twenty years to determine the main funding bodies and to assess key research areas and how they varied over time and geographic region. As data basis we used a metadatabase filled with 478 projects addressing environmental and water management issues in the Danube River Basin, covering also the Danube Delta and the north-western Black Sea. As overall outcome extensive research efforts in the field of water management could be proven for the past two decades, despite the tumultuous times of political and economic transformations. One of the main findings was that EU funded projects played a key role for the development of transboundary research collaboration and were also the scientifically most productive one's. Historically, nutrient pollution was the main problem addressed, shifting to pollution in a broader sense and hydromorphological alterations in recent years. The newly arising challenges of climate change impacts and sediment management became important research questions in the last years, too. Most research was performed in the thematic field of navigation, followed by restoration and biodiversity issues. To meet all of the already identified and newly emerging challenges in the DBS System, cross-border and integrated (river-delta-sea) research activities are of major importance and have to be further promoted. We thus suggest drawing up a regional DBS Research Agenda linked to key challenges in water management to strengthen research collaboration and advance targeted scientific projects, an approach fostering also the scientific capacity in the region.