Press Release

62 Danube NGOs Get $636,000 from DRP to Reduce Danube Pollution
(March 9, 2006. Vienna, Austria)

A total of 62 NGOs were awarded over 636,000 USD today to reduce nutrient and toxic pollution to Danube waters. The NGO projects were launched in 11 Danube River Basin countries -- Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Moldova, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine.

Five multi-country projects will include building bridges between stakeholders near the Hernad River in Hungary and the Sebes-Koros rivers in Romania. Public participation will be increased in managing the Sava River Basin. Best agricultural practices will be promoted to reduce pollution from farming in Lower Danube countries. And the advantages of re-usable diapers and environmentally-friendly detergents will be communicated in Slovenia and Croatia.

At the national level, 57 projects are supported. Examples include: reducing pollution from Danube tributaries such as the Sava, Drina, Ipoly, Prut, Zitova and Maramures rivers; campaigning for and promoting organic agriculture in Vukovar, Croatia, the Morava River Basin in the Czech Republic, Subotica, Serbia and Montenegro, and Moldova; promoting best agricultural practices to eliminate nutrients and toxics in Serbia and Montenegro, Hungary and Croatia; promoting environmentally-friendly detergents in the Czech Republic and Slovenia; and implementing new wastewater cleaning systems for households and farms in Slovenia.

"The work that these NGOs will do in raising aware ness about water pollution is crucial for us," said Kari Eik of the UNDP-GEF Danube Regional Project (DRP), responsible for awarding the grants. "The people of the Danube have a right to be informed about the quality of their water. Their countries have agreed to clean these waters by 2015 to meet international policy."

This second round of DRP grants builds on the DRP's first round of 65 grants which started in 2004. "Key successes from the first round included the protection of Slovakian wetlands, improved trans-boundary water protection between Moldova and Ukraine, and raising awareness among 200,000 residents in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina," said Entela Pinguli, grants manager with the The Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe (REC).

Notes to Editors:
Who manages these grants? This granting programme is managed by The Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe (REC) through its head office in Hungary, in cooperation with its offices in 10 countries listed above. The autonomous REC Moldova coordinates and implements the grant programme for Moldovan NGOs.

For more information about…
UNDP-GEF Danube Regional Project: Contact Paul Csagoly, paul.csagoly@unvienna.org,
(tel) +43 1 26060 4722, (mob) +43 664 561 2192, www.undp-drp.org

The Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe: Entela Pinguli, Epinguli@rec.org, Tel: +36 26 504 065, Fax: +36 26 311 294, www.rec.org  

More info and background materials
http://www.rec.org/REC/Programs/NGO_Support/Grants/RegionalDanubeGrants/