More Dredging, More Freight: How the War in Ukraine Threatens the Danube River Biosphere Reserve

Mar 28, 2024 | Viktoria Hubareva
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The Danube Delta is Europe’s largest delta ecosystem after the Volga, and also the continent’s second-largest water purification system. The delta also serves as one of the last refuges for European mink, wildcat, and river otter. Since the latter half of 2023, the Danube Biosphere Reserve has been closed to tourist visitors and partially even to representatives of academic institutions. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 forced Kyiv to seek additional logistics solutions, reigniting a longstanding dispute between Ukraine and Romania over the deepening of the mouth of the Danube (known as the Dunai River in both Ukraine and Russia) and its use in shipping. 

Firstly, dredging is likely to have a negative impact on birds nesting on the islands and on sturgeon populations, which migrate up and down the Bystroye Canal and are protected not only by Ukrainian, but also by international legislation. Such interference in ecosystems can change coastal landscapes, with unpredictable consequences.

Meanwhile, conservationists in Romania are silent. The Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve did not comment on the impact of dredging on the ecosystem, and Romanian Minister of Environment, Waterб and Forests Mircea Fechet reported to the UWEC Work Group journalist that over the course of time “the situation has changed”: