Cooperation on water research and education among the universities from the Black Sea region.

AuthorMamut, Eden
PositionCase study

The Danube-Mediterranean-Black Sea region is defined in terms of a macrosystem that incorporates water and wildlife dynamics, anthropogenic pressures, socioeconomic patterns and transport and industrial chains.

In terms of water dynamics, the Danube River, with a mean water discharge of about 200 [km.sup.3]/year and a basin estimated at 805,000 km2, accounts for a large part of the freshwater input into the Black Sea. At the same time, the Black Sea delivers a net outflow of meso-saline water to the eastern basin of the Mediterranean through the Bosphorus Strait, which connects the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmara (which is connected by the Dardanelles to the Aegean Sea, and thereby to the Mediterranean Sea). The average surface multiannual outflow is 600 [km.sup.3]/yr and the average bottom multiannual inflow is 300 [km.sup.3]/yr.

The availability and quality of water resources in the coastal areas and the Danubian Valley represent a major factor for sustainable development. The issues on water management and water pollution are generating many debates in the cross-border area and sometimes lead towards political conflicts, like in the Middle East region. According to the simulations performed by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC), it is estimated that in the coming decades the complexity of the phenomena related to climate change will have an impact on the depletion of water resources by up to 40 per cent.

The overall hydrodynamics within the described global system are also related to renewable energy resources. The Danube River has a huge potential for hydroenergy and a fundamental factor for biomass resources. In the case of the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea there is an estimated generalized reduced level of energy marine resources, including wind, waves, tides and currents. Within the defined global system, there are also areas where the renewable energy resources are coupled with erosion phenomena, as in the western coast of the Black Sea and islands in the Sea of Marmara and Aegean Sea.

The diverse nature of regional geography, with the attendant diversity of climate change impacts, represents a particular challenge for monitoring and management of climate change at the regional and local levels. The most common feature in the Black Sea region is the widespread increase in summer temperatures with consequences in the water inflow of the tributaries and the soil desertification in the shore zone. In the Mediterranean, average temperatures have risen about 2[degrees] C and rainfall has decreased by about 20 per cent in the last 40 years. Water is a limited resource in the Mediterranean basin, where its demand has doubled over the past 50 years (280 [km..sup.3]/year in 2007), with agriculture consuming the most, at 64 per cent. Losses, leaks and waste are estimated at 40 per cent of total water demand, particularly in the farming sector.

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In terms of wildlife dynamics, there is a continuous exchange of ichthyoplankton or phytoplankton among the Danube-Mediterranean-Black Sea systems. While sturgeons live in the Black Sea, they travel to spawn on the Danube upstream. At the same time, alien species are continuously being introduced in the Danube, the Black Sea and in the Mediterranean Sea through the navigating vessels. Some of these species prey on local wildlife, especially fish eggs...

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