29 June marks Danube Day

29 Jun, 2025 | 08:00

Danube Day is celebrated on 29 June, the date on which the Danube River Protection Convention was signed, with the idea of drawing attention to the importance and protection of the Danube River and its tributaries. This year, the campaign is under the motto "Our Danube - Our Future".

From its source to its delta, the river flows through Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova, and Ukraine. The Danube basin covers an area of 817 000 km². The river has 120 main tributaries and even more smaller ones, forming a huge watershed. The Danube flows through 10 countries, collects waters from 9 more, thus connecting 81 million people along its 2 859 km of length. and unites different languages, cultures, and histories. The basin is distinguished by an extraordinary diversity of ecosystems and habitats of plant and animal species.

The Danube Day campaign aims to encourage all people living in the Danube Basin to raise their awareness and be active in protecting the river and its tributaries. Detailed information is published on the special Danube Day page of the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River - http://www.danubeday.org/. The campaign is held by all countries in the Danube Basin and is organized and coordinated by the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River. The National Coordinator for Bulgaria is the Ministry of Environment and Water and the Danube Region Basin Directorate.

The program for celebrating Danube Day in Bulgaria includes various initiatives - cleaning actions, information and environmental campaigns, festivals, open-air events, concerts and exhibitions, various city celebrations organized by the regional and municipal administrations in the Bulgarian river basin, associations, and civic initiatives.

For another year, Bulgarian students between the ages of 6 and 18 can also participate in the traditional international competition Danube Art Master. The competition is organized by the Global Water Partnership in Central and Eastern Europe (GWPCEE) and the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR) and encourages children to take a closer look at their local river, reflect on what the environment means to them, and create original works of art, photography, or video. The competition is held at two levels: national and international. Detailed information about the Danube Art Master is published here: https://www.moew.government.bg/bg/zapochva-mejdunarodniyat-konkurs-za-deca-i-uchenici-danube-art-master-2025/

The Convention for Cooperation in the Protection and Sustainable Use of the Danube River was signed by the Danube countries in Sofia on June 29, 1994. It is the strategic document on which international cooperation for the protection of one of the most significant European rivers and its tributaries is based. Danube Day was celebrated for the first time on June 29, 2004 on proposal by the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River.