Balkan Vital Graphics

46

BALKAN VITAL GRAPHICS

BACKGROUND

MINING

WATER

NATURE

47

Prior to 1992, there were only six international river basins in the Balkans, but after the break-up of former Yugoslavia, the number more than doubled. There are now 13 internationally shared river basins and four transboundary lake basins. Such a fragmented situation means that new international legal regimes specifically for water basins need to be worked out. Talks between the countries concerned are also essential to develop future policies on hy- droelectric power generation.

Ta ş i

Szombathely

Piatra Neam ţ

Székesfehérvár

Z ă lau

Graz

CHI Ş IN Ă U

Veszprém

Tighina Tiraspol

Bistri ţ a

A U S T R I A

Roman

Kecskemét

U K R A I N E

Zalaegerszeg

M O L D O V A

Cluj-Napoca

Dunaújváros

Odessa

S i r e t

B a l a t o n

Klagenfurt

Villach

Bac ă u

Vaslui

Békéscaba

H U N G A R Y

Târgu Mure ş

Bârlad

Turda

Maribor

Hódmez ő vásárhely

Kaposvár

S L O V E N I A

R O M A N I A

One ş ti

Szeged

Udine

P r u t

Arad

Sfântu Gheorghe

Alba Iulia

Pécs

Media ş

LJUBLJANA

D r a v a

M u r e ş u l

Deva

Foc ş ani

ZAGREB

Subotica

T i s a

Sibiu

Timi ş oara

Bra ş ov

Gala ţ i

Trieste

Lugoj

D u n a v

Izmayil

C R O A T I A

K o l p a

Hunedoara

Osijek

Petro ş ani

K u p a

Karlovac

Br ă ila

Zrenjanin

S a v a

Rijeka

Tulgea

Novi Sad

Buz ă u

SlavonskiBrod

Râmnicu Vâlcea

Re ş i ţ a

Târgoviste

Târgu Jiu

Ploie ş ti

S a v a

Republika Srpska

Pan č evo

Pula

Slobozia

Drobeta- Turnu Severin

Pite ş ti

Banja Luka

Br č ko

BEOGRAD

U n a

BUCURE Ş TI

B O S N I A -

Br č ko

Constan ţ a

Slatina

C ă l ă ra ş i

Tuzla

Smederevska Palanka

V r b a s

B o s n a

Craiova

O l t

Zenica

Silistra

S E R B I A

D r i n a

Zadar

Bor

Alexandria Giurgiu

H E R Z E G O V I N A

C e t i n a A D R I A T I C S E A Split

Ruse

Po ž ega

Vidin

D u n ă r e a

SARAJEVO

Ancona

Dobrich

Razgrad

Federacija Bosna i Hercegovina

Pleven

Montana

Ni š

Mostar

Varna

Shumen

Vratsa

B L A C K

NoviPazar

R.S.

VelikoT ŭ rnovo

Lovech

N e r e t v a

AscoliPiceno

BijeloPolje

B U L G A R I A

Leskovac

MONTENEGRO

Teramo

Sliven

SOFIYA

T u n d z h a

Gabrovo

Pri š tina

Burgas

M o r a č a

S E A

Pescara

L'Aquila

Yambol

Dubrovnik

Pernik

K o s o v o

Stara-Zagora

Chieti

Plovdiv

Pazardzhik

PODGORICA

Dimitrovgrad

Kyustendil

M a r i t s a

Shkodër

SKOPJE

D r i n

Khaskovo

Asenovgrad

Bar

Edirne

Blagoevgrad

Tetovo Gostivar

SanSevero

V a r d a r

K ŭ rdzhali

Veles

D r i n i i Z i

Establishing international cooperation on water resources Many bilateral and multilateral treaties concerning water resources in the Balkans were concluded in the second half of the 20th century. In particular, the former Yugoslavia was keen to develop such partnerships, in keeping with its position as a non-aligned country in a divided world and its commitment to peaceful co-ex- istence and friendship between peoples. In addition, water treaties paved the way for further development.

M e s t a

S t r u m a

Lüleburgaz

A r d a

Manfredonia Barletta

E r g e n e

Campobasso

M A C E D O N I A

Çorlu

Foggia

Istanbul

TIRANË

Kad ı köy

N e s t o s

İ zmit

Benevento

Tekirda ğ

Durrës

Bari

Serres

E v r o s

Ohrid

Kartal

Bitola

Avellino

Kavala

The treaties generally set up joint commissions. Some of them are still at work. The Danube Commission, for instance, was established under the Belgrade Conven- tion on the Danube Navigation Regime in 1948. Apart from international waters, former Yugoslavia also had to manage its national waters divided be- tween the various federal units – six republics and two autonomous provinces. Water compacts be- tween these units had a constitutional and legal ba- sis. A good example of this type of legal instrument is the compact governing use of the Trebižat River watershed, agreed by Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia. It remains an open question why such an excellent example of intra-state cooperation was not fully implemented. The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 marked the end of a divided Europe and a bipolar world. New activities led to several multilateral environmental agreements. Almost all of them concern transboundary waters in one way or

Napoli

S t r i m o n a s

I T A L Y

Yalova

A L B A N I A

A x i o s

Salerno

Thessaloniki

Torre del Greco

Matera

Brindisi

Gemlik

Korçë

Potenza

Band ı rma

Bursa

Kastoria

Vlorë

Taranto

Lecce

Çanakkale

Bal ı kesir

G R E E C E

T U R K E Y

Larisa

Ioannina

Kerkyra

Cosenza

Volos

A G E A N

Akhisar

Crotone

Arta

Lamia

Manisa

U ş ak

Lamezia

Catanzaro

Salihli

S E A

İ zmir

Ödermi ş

Source:ZinkeEnvironmentConsulting/Fluvius

The treaties established cooperation between national authorities responsible for water management, with a view to improving their ability to deal with challenges arising in shared river basins. Typical concerns includ- ed floods, drainage, the construction of dams and hy- droelectric power plants, shipping and fishery. Water pollution was also an issue, often with the specific pur- pose of reducing the amount of pollution discharged into the water to protect fish or allowing fish species such as the Danube sturgeon to migrate freely. How- ever, although legislation on pollution and migration existed, it was often not enforced.

Contrary to the situation in the 1950s and 1960s, there are now several internationally accepted policy and legal instruments such as the Stockholm Dec- laration (1972) or the Rio Declaration (1992). Along- side the UNECE international instruments mentioned below, they constitute an overall framework for new legal regimes between states, old and new, covering the management of international water resources.

another. Several new treaties were signed in Kiev in 2003 in an effort to introduce more detailed regulations.

Following the conflicts of the 1990s and the breakup of former Yugoslavia, six new countries emerged in the Bal- kans. In addition to creating new states, former national water resources now are of concern to several countries, creating the need for specific international rules.