DANube SEdiment Restoration (DANSER): Towards deployment and upscaling of sustainable sediment management across the Danube River basin (The Upper Danube case)

DANSER aims at addressing the urgent need for sustainable sediment management solutions at the river basin scale, focusing on the Danube River-Black Sea system. Foci are demonstration of multidisciplinary innovative and holistic solutions and developing deeper insights into the sediment status and cause-effect relationships (e.g. via spatiotemporal mapping of natural and anthropogenic fluvial processes, sediment transport modelling, sediment dating, 3D historical reconstruction, river processes forecast simulations, sediment budget analysis, connectivity modelling and interventions, stakeholder-engaged sediment parametric evaluation and co-management, interlinkages with biodiversity (patterns), water quality and climate change effects. This EU-funded (HORIZON-MISS-Danube & Black Sea Lighthouse) project seeks to restore sediment balance, improve sediment flow and quality together with EU- and other international stakeholders (existing bodies, digital platforms, events and know-how).

In an ample coverage throughout 3 DEMO (incl. 13 pilot) sites, 7 sibling locations, and 6 associated regions (AR), the DANSER approach will develop, validate, and promote key active and passive measures to mitigate human interference in the sediment flow, related biodiversity and ecological aspects and possibly recover the sediment balance and quality in critical stretches of the basin. In this poster presentation, we aim to provide an overview of the strategies and actions that are foreseen for the Upper Danube region, specifically in DEMO area 1 located in Lower Austria.  

This research acknowledges support from the EU Projects HEU DANSER (grant agreement No 101157942), H2020 MERLIN (grant agreement No 101036337), HEU Danube4all (grant agreement No 101093985) i-CONN’ H 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement number 859937. Furthermore, the Austrian Federal Ministry for Digital and Economic Affairs and the Christian Doppler Research Association supported the work via the Christian Doppler Laboratory for Meta Ecosystem Dynamics in Riverine Landscapes (CD Laboratory MERI).