Lower Danube Green CorridorVISION

restored floodplain

new Protected Areas

Protected Areas733,166 ha Floodplain restoration – a long term solution for storing flood waters

Connecting people, connecting nature

One of the world's most important ecoregions with outstanding and distinctive biological resources

In 2000, the governments of Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine and Moldova pledged to work together to establish a green corridor along the entire length of the Lower Danube River. The Lower Danube Green Corridor was and still is the most ambitious wetland protection and restoration initiative in Europe.

The Lower Danube Green Corridor aims to make the Lower Danube a living River again, connected to its natural flooding areas and wetlands, reducing the risks of major flooding in areas with human settlements and offering benefits both for local economies – fisheries, tourism – and for the ecosystems along the river.

70% of the floodplain along the lower Danube have been lost and the natural retention capacity was dramatically reduced.

The restoration potential of the Lower Danube Green Corridor is about 500,000 ha, which if implemented, could store a significant volume of water to reduce the flood risks.

By restoring an area of 100,000 ha of former wetlands, a volume of 1,6 billion m³ could be stored during floods.

A recent WWF study shows that the potential for floodplain restoration in the Danube Basin of about 800,000 ha along the Danube and its major tributaries.

Compared with the overall loss of 70% of the Danube floodplain, there is now a potential to restore about 25% of the former floodplain.

The costs for restoration of 100,000 ha of floodplain is less than the damages caused by floods and flood protection infrastructure maintenance in the same area.

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