European Project linking Black Sea, North Sea and Baltic Sea criticised by Environmental Organisation

17 March 2020

Introduction:
Environmental organisations from across central and Eastern Europe have criticised a major project intending to link three rivers and provide seamless navigation between three of Europe’s peripheral seas.

Proposed Project:

• The Danube-Oder-Elbe Canal intends to connect the Danube, Oder and Elbe rivers and thus provide another navigable link from the Black Sea to the North and Baltic Seas.
• Environmental organisations from Germany, Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Austria, are calling for the project to be halted.

Objections to the project:

• This major project, costing at least 23 billion euros, fundamentally violates EU environmental and nature conservation directives.
• The project, if constructed, would destroy the region’s river landscapes
• The European Commission  needs to ensure that the project be excluded from EU funding, and not be included as part of the Trans-European Transport Network.
• Several hundred kilometres of artificial waterways and 70 locks would need to be constructed.
• The acceleration the of flood waves resulting from the construction of numerous locks, will diminish flood protection and increase flood risks further.
• The canal would also result in a great loss of biodiversity, as these areas are  a safe haven to Europe’s most valuable and threatened species and habitats, for birds as well as other animal and plant species.