The
River Morava
The Lower Morava River catchment is a central-European watershed, 26
580 km² in area. The River Morava is one of the Danube´s largest
tributaries. The adjacent floodplain ecosystems of the lowland river
valley include floodplain forests, grasslands, wetlands etc. They are
the result of an extensive inundation regime and long-time human use.
The lower Morava floodplains represent one of the largest complexes
of wet meadows in central Europe. It was declared as a Ramsar site,
and proposed as Natura 2000 Site.
The development
of the countryside over the past four decades has led to the deterioration
and degradation of wetlands. The inundation area of the Morava in Slovakia
has been reduced to 24 % of its original extent (from 159.4 km²
to 38.72 km²). This has led to a decrease in species diversity.
Some parts of the alluvial meadows (493 ha in total) have been ploughed
and over-fertilised for economic reasons. The biodiversity of the meadows
along the River Morava has diminished following its illegal conversion
to arable land.
The
River Mura
The Slovenian part of the River Mura's catchment area is composed of
a mainly agricultural, sub-panonic landscape of plains and hills. The
main tributaries to the Mura are the Ledava and the ©èavnica. In recent
years the Mura has improved in quality from a third to a second class
river (four classes are defined in Slovenia, ranging from 1 - the best,
to 4 - the worst). This improvement has mainly been attributed to improvements
in pollution control in Austria. In Slovenia, the water life in the
Mura Basin was being most degraded by two main tributaries, the Sèavnica
and the Ledava.
Among the most valuable natural habitats typical for the Mura Basin
are wet meadows, riparian forests, and ox-bow lakes. All are very important
for the various plants and animals endangered in Slovenia and in Europe.
It is planned to protect the whole length of the River Mura as a landscape
park. It has already been declared an Important Bird Area and is proposed
for protection as a Special Protected Area under Natura 2000.
The
River Ogosta
The Ogosta basin in Bulgaria (its upper and middle part is in the Montana
administrative area and it is a tributary of Danube) is mountainous
in the upper basin and a traditionally agricultural area in the middle
basin. The area from the River Ogosta, near Montana town, is included
in the 1999 Transboundary Analysis Report (the analysis was prepared
under the framework of the UNDP/GEF Danube Pollution Reduction Programme)
as Significant Impact Area No. 35, map 10. Montana town is indicated
as a hot spot of medium priority. This project coincides exactly with
the main objectives of the above-mentioned Transboundary Analysis -
to provide a technical basis for the development of a Pollution Reduction
Programme for the protection of the Danube River Basin.
