Project name: Monitoring of the hydrological, hydraulic and morphological characteristics of the Danube River and inventory of biodiversity components on the joint Croatian-Serbian sector of the Danube River
Client: Ministry of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure of the Republic of Croatia
Project partners: Hidroing Ltd, Vodoprivredno – projektni biro JSC (VPB)
Period: 01/2023 – 07/2024
Location: Croatia
The project is an integral part of the comprehensive international EU project “Preparing FAIRway2 works in the Rhine Danube Corridor” under the CEF Call 2014-2020 in the field of transport. The project partners are the Austrian Federal Ministry of Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology (project coordinator is “viadonau” from Vienna), the Serbian Ministry of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure (MGSI) and the Croatian Ministry of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure (MMPI).
The aim of this monitoring is to create the basis for a joint Croatian and Serbian strategy to maintain the Danube as an important international waterway. As part of the comprehensive EU project, the Croatian and Serbian partners will redefine priority critical sections for navigation on the shared stretch of the Danube and analyse their alternative solutions.
The results of the EU project will be presented in a comprehensive study that will serve for the future joint adaptive management of the Danube in the border area between Croatia and Serbia, enabling the continuous maintenance of the international waterway with the protection of biodiversity and the maintenance of natural ecosystem services during floods on both sides of the river.
The project consisted of 3 components:
1. Monitoring of relevant waterway maintenance parameters: This includes assessing river regulation infrastructure, conducting hydrographic surveys, measuring sediment flow and current, and installing piezometers to monitor water levels and temperature. These activities were performed by Hidroing and VPB.
2. Inventory of biodiversity components: This involves documenting fish populations, habitats, bird species, and river benthos types in critical sections of the Danube. It also includes creating detailed habitat maps and monitoring ecological conditions according to the Water Framework Directive. These activities were performed by Oikon.
3. Establishment of a geoinformation system: A GIS system was set up to store and manage all collected data, including waterway maintenance parameters and biodiversity monitoring information. This component was also carried out by Oikon.
Oikon was responsible for the project management and coordination of the entire project.
Implementation of this Project contributes to the following Sustainable Development Goals:
