RIVERS FOR LIFE
Declaration
I.
1. On the occasion of the 4th Environment and Health Ministerial Conference „Future for Our
Children” held in Budapest, 22-25. June 2004, NGOs and civil activists were joined to discuss
the alarming and urgent state of rivers and fresh-waters in Central and Eastern Europe. Water
is a finite resource upon which all forms of life depend. As such its conservation,
safeguarding and fair distribution is an urgent priority.
2. As it is also stated in the VI. Environmental Action Programme of the European Union,
biodiversity of the natural environment in the countries of the Central and Eastern European
region (including EU member states and accession countries) is outstandingly high, while the
fragmentation of the landscapes is much lower than in the Western part of the continent. This
should warn us to do all the efforts to protect these natural values.
3. It is vital to preserve rivers, fresh-waters and wetlands, as habitats of primary importance
from the view-point of biological diversity. This is supported by several international
conventions, as for example the Ramsar Convention, the UN Convention on Biodiversity and
the Danube Convention.
4. In addition, the Protocol On Water and Health to the 1992 Convention On the Protection
and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes emphasises the benefits to
human health and well-being that arise from wholesome and clean water and a harmonious
and properly functioning water environment.
5. Water has also been acknowledged as one of the five priorities (water, energy, health,
agriculture and biodiversity) for the next ten years at World Summit on Sustainable
Development in Johannesburg in 2002.
6. The Water Framework Directive of the European Union outlines the tasks and tools in river
and water management for those countries, which are already members, or intend to join to
the European Union in the future. The directive calls our attention to take into consideration
that complex role, what is fulfilled by rivers and wetlands in the life of the landscapes and
regions. This also includes agriculture, clean water supply, nature conservation, tourism and
flood prevention.
7. These international conventions must turn our attention to the importance of rivers and
fresh-waters, including their head-water areas and the connecting wetlands. NGOs and other
bodies of the civil society are in a key position and they are having an increasing role in the
protection of our natural environment and particularly rivers and wetlands for the future
generations.
8. Considering the above the practical enforcement of precautionary principle is not only a
legal obligation but a moral responsibility, ensuring the chance of survival for future
generations.
II.
9. Encouraged by successful river restoration examples participating representatives
discussed the above mentioned tasks and questions, and now are determined to stop the
destruction of rivers, fresh-waters and wetlands.
10. Energy production. Global climate change and the energy crisis of the world produce an
increasing pressure to use our rivers for the production of “green energy”. Whereas this
energy does not cost green-house gas emissions, the construction of enormous hydroelectric
power stations, particularly on lowland river sections, results in inestimable environmental
consequences. The still unsolved ecological problems, caused by the Gabčikovo-Nagymaros
dam on the Danube, should warn us to regard these investments with the highest precaution.
The construction of this type of lowland plants, like the planned dam on the Drava River at
Novo Virje must be prevented in the future.
11. Transport. Living rivers are not industrial water highways. The construction of an
ecologically destructive large-scale water-highway on the Danube is unacceptable. Also, the
project of the Ukrainian government to construct a shipping canal in the ecologically unique
Danube delta is equally unacceptable. The transport needs of the countries in the Central and
Eastern European region can be satisfied only with taking into consideration those ecological
values which are represented by natural state streams of the region. We should find solutions
to satisfy the demands of water transport without the destruction of our rivers. This includes
the use of ships which are matching our waters and their dynamics of hydrology, and not to fit
the rivers to the ships.
12. Flood prevention. The conventional engineering approach to flood prevention is a
particular threat to the wetlands, connected to the rivers. These wetlands should be preserved
as biological core areas, and the original flood buffer capacity of these ecosystems must be
reconstructed. The restoration of the wetlands and flood-plains of rivers is a tool, both for
flood prevention and increasing biodiversity. These works, reconstructing water holding
capacity of the waterside ecosystems, could help to prevent the catastrophic floods due to both
land-use and climate change. The vast ongoing forest destruction in the region has resulted in
increasing flood-risk.
13. Emission, pollution. Direct emission of polluting agents is one of the most frightening
form of the destruction of our rivers. Low technological standards as well as softer, or not
enforced environmental regulations in the region mean an extremely high emission level and
accident risk for our waters.
 Intensive industrial activity of high environmental risk jeopardise the ecological
state of the rivers, as well as healthy and safe clean water supply of millions in the
region. The cyanide pollution at Baia Mare in 2000 showed us the possible
consequences and the unacceptable threat what these plants and mines mean to our
communities. Despite of vehement opposition high risk projects such as the
proposed gold mine at Roşia Montana, are not realistically assessed. The effective
or possible emission of the abandoned mines, waste-heaps and red sludge
reservoirs also mean a great menace.
 The emission of untreated sewage into living waters clearly impede our countries
to reach the target of “good” water quality by the year of 2015, what is expected in
the EU water framework directive.

The nutrient load from households and agricultural activity afflict first of all lakes
and stagnant waters, but it has also a primary role in the destruction of Black Sea
ecosystems.
III.
14. In this situation the participating organisations turn to
 the governments through the conference of the European Ministers of Environment and
Health,
 to the institutions of the European Union, through the representatives of the Commission
of the European Union, participating in the conference,
 and directly to the civil society and the representatives of the media
15. To take the opportunity to call international public attention and to do everything in the
interest of the
 enforcement of the principles of sustainability in sectorial policies, with special respect to
all the regulatory and investment processes concerning rivers and wetlands (horizontal
integration) to prevent that the viewpoint of industry, mining, transport and floodprevention investments prevail over the ecological interests;
 conservation of the vast and exceptional, on the all-European level valuable ecosystems,
which are connected to the freshwater system of Central and Eastern Europe, to preserve
them for the future generations;
 preservation of those streams and wetlands, which do not carry higher primary ecological
value, but are important as ecological corridors;
 use and support of ecological agricultural and forest management on the national levels as
well as the appropriate participation in the II. pillar of the Common Agricultural and Rural
Development Policy in the case of the EU member countries.
16. To accomplish the above listed goals we particularly call the conferring ministers to do all
the necessary steps to
 ratify and implement the previous commitments, in particular the London Protocol on
Water and Health;
 implement the water framework directive of the EU in the case of the member and the
accession countries;
 fulfil the recommendations of the Baia Mare Task Force of the EC to treat the risk caused
by industrial and mining activity on every river basins in the region. Especially we call to
- draw up a common, complex and comprehensive register and monitoring system
of the hazardous plant sites in the region;
- form the frame of the cooperation with the civil society. We consider it is vitally
important that the citizens living and working in the locality of such activities be
made aware of their rights of consultation on such issues by the appropriate local
authority.
17. We, the participating NGOs of Rivers For Life Workshop, a side event of the 4th
Environment and Health Ministerial Conference „Future for Our Children” call the attention
to some acute cases where rivers, water ecosystems, wetlands and human communities are
threatened. We request governments, international and EU institutions, the media and the
whole society must turn their attention to these cases, and do all the efforts including proper
environmental impact assessment, to find solution.




Stop the preparation works of the Novo Virje dam on the Drava river in Croatia;
Demand the immediate halt of the very risky cyanide based Roşia Montana Gold
Mine Development.
Prevent the ecological disaster with halting the Danube-canal project in the
Danube delta in Ukraine.
Find solution for the ecological destruction of the Szigetköz region in Hungary
with assuring a higher water output to the original watercourse of the Danube.
18. We are convinced that these steps are indispensable to hand healthy and ecologically
intact water environment over to our descendants, the future generations.
Budapest, 24th June 2004.