The GEF Strategic Partnership addresses nutrient pollution in the Danube River and Black Sea through projects that restore wetlands, improve agriculture practices, and expand wastewater treatment. The Partnership supports 10 projects across several countries to reduce nutrient runoff in compliance with the EU Nitrate Directive. Projects have made progress improving manure management, expanding use of environmentally-friendly practices, and strengthening water quality monitoring in countries like Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria, and Turkey.

1. Progress on Projects under
GEF Strategic Partnership on
the Black Sea/Danube River
Basin and their Contributions
towards Compliance with EU
Nitrate Directive
Jitendra Srivastava and Tijen Arin
Environmentally and Socially Sustainable
Development, Europe and Central Asia
World Bank

2. The GEF Strategic Partnership addresses the
recovery of the ecological balance of the Danube
river and the Black sea. The Partnership was
established in 2001 to support the broader long term
Strategy by the Danube and Black Sea
Commissions, the concerned riparian countries, in
collaboration with GEF, the UNDP and the World
Bank to address the issue of nutrient pollution in the
water bodies.
The projects supported under the Partnership also
assist the riparian countries towards compliance with
EU Nitrate Directive

3. Three types of projects (or combination there of)
are eligible for financing under the Partnership:
Restoration or creation of wetlands that act as
nutrient filters
Reform and improvement of agriculture and
animal management practices with impact on
nutrient use and/or non-point discharge through
run-off
Municipal Wastewater treatment for reduction of
nutrient discharge
If the opportunity exists to leverage nutrient
reduction in a large industrial or agro-industrial
facility, that intervention will also be eligible!

4. The Strategic Partnership consists of
World Bank Investment Fund for Nutrient Reduction (USD 70 million)
UNDP Danube Regional Project and UNDEP/UNEP Black Sea Regional
Project (USD 25 million)
Partnership closely cooperates with EU efforts on environment
and the Nitrate Directive in particular
10 WB Investment Fund projects under implementation /
implementation.
Municipal WWT projects in Bosnia and Herzegovina,Croatia,
Hungary, Moldova, Russia and Ukraine.
Agricultural Pollution Control projects in Georgia, Moldova,
Romania, Russia, Serbia and Turkey.
Wetland restoration project in Bulgaria (with APC component)

5. The EU Community Policy on the environment
(article 174,1302) strives to contribute to the
following:
Preserving, protecting and improving the quality
of environment
Protecting human health
Prudent and rational utilization of natural
resources
Promoting measures at international level to deal
with regional or world wide environmental
problems

6. The Council’s Directive 91/676/EEC of
December 12, 1991 relates specifically
towards protection of waters against
pollution caused by nitrates from agricultural
sources.
The Directive explicitly states that “The main
cause of pollution from diffuse sources
affecting the community’s waters is nitrates
from agricultural sources both farming and
animal wastes”.

7. The directive further emphasizes member
states to identify certain zones, draining into
waters vulnerable to pollution from nitrogen
compounds.
The Member States shall prepare action
programs in respect of designated
vulnerable zones

8. The Member States should establish a code
of good agricultural practices to be
implemented by farmers
Where required Member States should set
up a program, including the provision of
training and information for farmers and agro
processors, promoting the application of the
code(s) of good agricultural practices

9. The overall development objective of the
Partnership Agricultural Pollution Control
Projects are:
Increase significantly the use of environment-friendly
agricultural practices in the project area
and thereby reduce nutrient discharge from
agricultural sources, and
Assist national programs in developing needed
human resources with the skills and
modernizing the facilities for expanding these
efforts throughout the country

10. In support of these objectives, the projects are
designed to:
Promote the adoption of environment-friendly
agricultural practices
Promote wetlands restoration
Strengthen national capacity for developing
appropriate policies and regulation and its
enforcement
Promote public awareness and Government
support
Monitor the soil and water quality for Nutrient
pollution

11. Moldova – Agricultural Pollution Control
Project
Good progress is made in a number of areas
towards the projects development objective of
significantly increasing the use of environmentally–
friendly agricultural practices by farmers and agro-industry
to reduce nutrient discharge into water
bodies. It has also initiated harmonization of its
legislative framework with EU Nitrate Directive and
in developing a code of good agricultural practices
and organic farming. It is linked with a US $40 mln
IDA-funded Rural Investment and Services Project

12. Romania – Agricultural Pollution Control Project.
During the two years since the project became effective, it has
supported:
Construction of 9 village level manure platforms and 1350
household level manure storage facilities
Provision of equipment for the manure platforms
Promotion of several environment-friendly agricultural
practices on farmers’ fields
Capacity building of local agencies
Aforestation of degraded lands
Development and dissemination of code of good agricultural
practices
TA for harmonizing Romanian legislation with the Nitrate
Directive
Public awareness campaigns

13. Bulgaria – Wetlands Restoration and Pollution
Reduction Project
The project has prepared the engineering design for the
restoration of Kalimok marshes and Belene islands and
has identified other sites for restoration
Significant progress has been made in protected area
planning, training and capacity building
Small grant program for biodiversity conservation is
operational and Farmer Transition Support Fund is
established
The project has supported a number of well-targeted and
planned training activities and institutional capacity
building

14. Turkey – Anatolia Watershed Rehabilitation
Project
The project’s overall development objective is to support
sustainable natural resource management practice in
Anatolia and Turkey’s Black sea region.
The objective of the GEF supported component is to
introduce farming practices which will reduce the discharge
of nutrients into surface and ground water in watersheds
draining into the Black sea in four provinces.
More specifically this component will help introduce
improved manure and nutrient management practices and
organic farming
Will improve the capacity for soil and water monitoring for
nutrient discharge and help farmers to comply with national-international
food safety and environmental requirements

15. Serbia - Danube River Enterprise Pollution
Reduction Project
The project will focus on introducing environmentally friendly practices
in nutrient management in medium and large size cattle and pig farms,
and proper animal waste management in slaughterhouses. The project
area will be Vojvodina and Central Serbia where intensive livestock
production and slaughtering is common.
The project will also assist the harmonization of Serbian regulations
with the EU Nitrate Directive, in particular through the drafting of a
Code for Good Agricultural Practices.
The capacity of the Agricultural Extension Services will be enhanced to
provide proper guidance to enterprises to manage manure and
slaughterhouse animal waste properly. The project will also help
improve capacity for water quality monitoring.
The project is expected to become effective in June 2005 and last four
years.

16. Russia – Krasnodar Agricultural Nutrient
Reduction Project
The overall objective of this project in preparation is to increase
the use of environment-friendly practices by farmers and agro-industry
in the Krasnodar krai in order to reduce nutrient (N and
P) pollution from agricultural sources to the Black sea
The project will have four components to be implemented over
a period of five years:
Promotion of good agricultural practices.
Restoration of abandoned rice fields and monitoring soil and
water quality
Strengthening of the legislative, regulatory and institutional
capacity if the Krai government
Public awareness – the project would be implemented in three
regions of the Krai that are “hot spots” of nutrient pollution to
Black sea

17. Progress on Projects under
GEF Strategic Partnership on
the Black Sea/Danube River
Basin and their Contributions
towards Compliance with EU
Nitrate Directive
Jitendra Srivastava and Tijen Arin
Environmentally and Socially Sustainable
Development, Europe and Central Asia
World Bank