Danube project funds NGOs Sixty-two non-governmental organisations (NGOs) were awarded more than USD 636,000 in March to reduce pollution of the Danube. The NGO projects were launched in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Moldova, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine. Projects are expected to run until January 2007. At the regional level, 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. Cleaner agricultural practices will be promoted in lower Danube countries, and re-usable diapers and environmentally friendly detergents will be advertised in Slovenia and Croatia. At the national level 57 projects are being supported. They include reducing pollution in various Danube tributaries, promoting organic agriculture, promoting cleaner agricultural practices, promoting environmentally friendly detergents, and implementing new wastewater cleaning systems for households and farms. “The work that these NGOs will do in raising awareness about water pollution issues and solutions is crucial for us,” said Kari Eik of the United Nations Development Programme-Global Environment Facility’s Danube Regional Project (DRP), which is responsible for awarding the grants. “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 Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe (REC). This granting programme is managed by the REC’s head office and its offices in the 10 countries listed above. The autonomous REC Moldova coordinates and implements the grant programme for Moldovan NGOs. More information is available at: www.rec.org/REC/Programs/NGO_Support/Grants/RegionalDanubeGrants/.

REReP Record Home