A European River Habitat Danube

The Danube passes through many landscapes and climatic zones, and its flora and fauna are correspondingly diverse. Despite numerous, sometimes severe, human interventions, the river landscape is still extraordinarily rich in species in many sections, partly because some particularly sensitive habitats have been placed under protection. One major problem is the constant erosion of the river bed, which various government measures are intended to counteract, including regular dredging.

Almost the entire length of the Danube flows through Natura 2000 areas and is therefore an essential part of the European network of protected areas. Only the section in the non-EU country Serbia and a few intermediate stretches, for example within larger cities, are not located in European protected areas.

Like many other rivers, the Danube has undergone numerous severe human interventions since the beginning of industrialization. Only 20 percent of the floodplains that existed in the 19th century still exist and only half of the river course can be described as at least "near-natural".

The WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) ranks the Danube as one of the ten most endangered rivers in the world due to the massive expansion efforts for shipping and the planned use of hydropower. Among other things, an EU program for the expansion of infrastructure between Western and Eastern Europe plans to remove obstacles and bottlenecks along around 1,000 kilometers of the Danube. These construction measures would affect protected areas and natural habitats.