On 20 October, the Trilateral Declaration on Cooperation on the Management of International Water Issues in the Prut River Basin between Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova and Romania was concluded on occasion of the International Conference "United for Justice. United for Nature" in Kyiv, Ukraine
Ms Iordanca-Rodica Iordanov, Minister of Environment of the Republic of Moldova, Mr Mircea Fechet, Minister of Environment, Water Resources and Forests of Romania and Mr Ruslan Strilets, Minister of Environment Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine have signed the document. European Union’s Environment Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevičius was present at the event and welcomed the signature.
The Prut River is one of the three longest tributaries of the Danube River, along with the Sava and the Tisza rivers. Until it flows into the Danube, it crosses Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova and Romania, with a total basin area of 28,396 km2. Out for 953 km of the Prut River length, 711 km form a border between the Republic of Moldova and Romania, and 31 km of the river constitute the border between Romania and Ukraine.
The Declaration strengthens transboundary cooperation on:
- harmonization of the national management plans for the Prut river basin,
- monitoring of shared waters
- flood and drought management,
- conservation of biodiversity,
- early warning on accidental water pollution,
- public participation and awareness raising,
- joint implementation of the projects and programmes.
A relevant working group will be created under the auspice of the ICPDR (International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River).
“We are really pleased with this historic milestone achieved after a long period of political efforts. With this action the countries have recommitted to the principles of integrated water resources management in the transboundary aspect, as laid down in the Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes (Water Convention), the ICPDR, and the EU Water Framework Directive 2000/60/EC”, said Tamara Kutonova from the Water Convention Secretariat.
Development and signing of the Declaration was facilitated by the EU4Environment Water and Data programme. This Programme has two main objectives: 1) support a more sustainable use of water resources and 2) improve the use of sound environmental data and their availability for policy-makers and citizens. The programme is implemented in the EU Eastern Partners countries by the Environment Agency Austria (UBA), Austrian Development Agency (ADA), International Office for Water (OiEau) (France), Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). The action is principally funded by the European Union and co-funded by the Austrian Development Cooperation and the French Artois-Picardie Water Agency based on a budget of EUR 12,75 million (EUR 12 million EU contribution) and implemented in the period 2021-2024.
Read the Prut Declaration
Credit picture: Ministry of Environment of the Republic of Moldova