Children master their Danube arts at last year’s Danube Day celebrations.

Who could have imagined that Danube Day would become such a success, growing year after year? Festivities continue in 2006 as citizens of the Danube Basin are invited to join the celebrations on and around June 29.

Danube Day is a powerful tool for developing the ‘Danubian identity’ of the people living in the basin by reminding them that in spite of different cultures and histories, they have a shared responsibility to protect this precious resource. Organisations from civil society and governments will participate to make Danube Day a day to remember, through water-related games, exhibitions, field trips, round tables, workshops and public awareness-raising activities.

This year’s focus will be on the Danube Rivers as home to numerous creatures from frogs to humans. A fish poster is currently in development picturing the wide range of species and linking the countries through the living band of the rivers. Support will be provided again by Coca-Cola HBC and the Coca-Cola Company.

The Danube Art Masters competition will again be an important element of Danube Day, organised jointly by the ICPDR, national ministries of water management and the Danube Environmental Forum. National contests will be carried out within each country and it is planned to invite the national winners to Vienna, Austria, where the international winner will be awarded.

For more information on Danube Day 2006 or how to participate, please visit: www.danubeday.org

Jasmine Bachmann
works on public participation in the ICPDR Permanent Secretariat,
and is the Executive Editor of Danube Watch.