The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) undoubtedly had a decisive role in the matter. Not only did it participate in the organization of the summit, but it also had been strongly committed to promote the cooperation between countries whose recent history had been marked by a disposition to conflict rather than by the search for concerted solutions.

The probably most important result of the Danube-Carpathian Summit is the mutual interest in the topic "environment" which became apparent, but also the understanding that international relations should from now on be based on "bio-geographical" and not on political boundaries. Many of the heads of state present emphasised the importance of the summit particularly in this context.

The results in detail

• The "Declaration on Environment and Sustainable Development for the Danube-Carpathian Region" was adopted unanimously
  li> Binding protection of the Carpathian region. All of the Carpathian riparian states voted for appropriate steps towards a regulatory legislation for the Carpathian region and a possible Carpathian Convention
  
• Obligation to organise a big donor conference for the Carpathian region and the Danube in autumn 2001
  
• Widest-possible publicity for the initiative "Eco-region Carpathians"
  
• Agreement between the five countries of the Tisa catchment (see cyanide disaster)
  
• Romania announced to support the "Forest Stewardship Council"

At the same time the four countries of the lower Danube regions used the summit to present those measures to which they had committed themselves already last year on the occasion of the Lower Danube Green Corridor Agreement.

The Danube-Carpathian Summit was a regional contribution to the World Summit on Sustainable Development (= United Nations Conference for Sustainable Development or Rio+10) – in Johannesburg in 2002. For this reason detailed results will be covered in that framework.

The state of the Danube

Analysing the state of the Danube, President Iliescu said at the summit, "Due to lacking or poor coordination the river is the main polluter of the Black Sea today, a development which assumes alarming proportions! Irresponsible waste disposal on the part of cities and industries, but also fertilisers seeping into the Danube either directly or via tributaries have already resulted in a massive threat to drinking water supply for regions downstream, but also endangers rare species of fauna and flora."

Iliescu also stressed the urgency to protect unique wetlands, particularly the Danube Delta, through medium and long-term coordinated measures. Many of the appropriate actions, however, would exceed the means of one country alone. "Water pollution, flood protection measures, but also other issues with significant impacts on the environment can only be considered regionally due to their nature and can only be tackled by adequate international support and aid."

In this context the Declaration on Environment and Sustainable Development is a sequel to the agreement Green Corridor for the Danube signed last year, which provides both for a minimum of 900,000 ha of already existing or newly created wetlands, and for the support of the people living in these areas.

To find support for the Bucharest agreements, the WWF has already turned to the global community, to donor organizations and particularly to the EU. "We believe that it is high time to invest in the preservation and restoration of the most important ‘capital‘ of this regions, which is nature," says Philip Weller, the head of the Danube-Carpathian Programme.

UN General-Secretary Kofi Annan has already ensured the support of the world organization and stressed on this occasion the importance of such joint programmes for an economically and politically unified Europe.
Claire Thilo (WWF-Austria)

Information & contact:
World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)-Austria
Danube-Carpathian Programme
Ottakringerstrasse 114-116
A-1160 Vienna
Tel. +43 1 488 17-271