SUPPORTING DIALOGUE AND INTERSECTORAL COOPERATION FOR INTEGRATED WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT
In 2026, Ukraine takes over the presidency of the ICPDR for the second time, a role it will hold until the end of the year. With EU candidate status since June 2022, this presidency carries particular weight: it is both a responsible duty and an opportunity to support Ukraine's EU accession while strengthening cooperation across the Danube Region.
As a transnational executive body of the Danube River Protection Convention, the ICPDR unites Ukraine and 14 other countries sharing the Danube River basin, together with the European Commission. Its work directly feeds into the EU Strategy for the Danube Region, particularly Pillar 2 on protecting the environment.
Ukraine's presidency priorities reflect the moment: strengthening water resources resilience against floods and droughts driven by climate change, assessing the environmental damage inflicted on the Danube Delta sub-basin by Russia's full-scale military aggression, and advancing the updated Danube River Basin Management Plan through closer cooperation among all parties.
The 6th NPD Ukraine brings these priorities into dialogue, gathering government, scientific, and civil society actors to drive reform in the water management sector and to jointly shape restoration plans for the Ukrainian part of the Danube Region — grounded in a participatory approach.
Please find below the agenda of the event.
Participation is free of charge, though registration is required — the link will be shared shortly.
AGENDA:
09.30 – 10.00 Registration & Morning Coffee
10.00 – 10.40 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS
Iryna OVCHARENKO, Deputy Minister of Economy, Environment and Agriculture of Ukraine
Vitalii BARVINENKO, Director of the Institute of Danube Research
Mariia SHPANCHYK, President of the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River
Birgit VOGEL, Executive Secretary of the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River (online)
Igor GOPCHAK, Head of the State Agency of Water Resources of Ukraine
Claudia SINGER-SMITH, Coordinator of the EUSDR PA 10 “Institutional Capacities and Cooperation” (online) (t.b.c.)
Stefan August LÜTGENAU, President of the Danube Civil Society Forum, Director of Foster Europe – Foundation for Strong European Regions (online)
Igor STUDENNIKOV, Executive Director of the Centre for Regional Studies, Member of the Executive Committee of the Danube Civil Society Forum
10.40 – 12.10 PANEL DICUSSION: THE INTRODUCTION OF THE RIVER BASIN MANAGEMENT APPROACH AS A STEP TOWARDS UKRAINE’S EU ACCESSION
Moderator:
Olexiy YAROSHEVYCH, Blue Rivers Environmental Consulting, National Expert at the ICPDR River Basin Management Expert Group
Ukrainian presidency of the ICPDR and the harmonization of EU and Ukraine’s water policies
Mariia SHPANCHYK, ICPDR President
The development and implementation of river basin management plans as a step towards the introduction of the EU Water Framework Directive principles and the participatory approach to water resources management
Katerina MUDRA, Blue Rivers Environmental Consulting, National Expert at the ICPDR River Basin Management Expert Group
River basin councils’ role in RBMs’ development and implementation, and in ensuring the participative management of water resources (the case study of the Lower Danube River Basin Council)
Yuriy MASLOV, Chairman of the Lower Danube River Basin Council, Chairman of the Association of Local Self-government Bodies “EU Strategy for the Danube Region” (online)
Veniamin UNGUREAN, Member of Odesa Regional Council, Deputy Chairman of the Lower Danube River Basin Council,
River basin councils’ role in RBMs’ development and implementation, and in ensuring the participative management of water resources (the case study of the Black Sea Rivers’ Basin Council)
Sergey STEPANENKO, Chairman of the Black Sea Rivers’ Basin Council, Chief Researcher at the Institute of Market Studies, Economics and Ecology, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine Introducing a river basin management approach: the implementation of the Danube River Basin Management Plan
Pavlo BULANOVYCH, Acting Head of the Lower Danube and Black Sea Rivers Basin Management Department for Water Resources
DISCUSSION
12.10 – 12.30 Tea / coffee break
12.30 – 14.00 PANEL DICUSSION: MILITARY IMPACT ASSESSMENT ON THE ENVIRONMENT IN THE DANUBE DELTA SUB-BASIN
Moderator:
Olena MARUSHEVSKA, National Expert at the ICPDR Public Participation
Expert Group:
Assessing and documenting military impacts on the environment in the Danube River basin and its sub-basins: tasks and challenges
Mariia SHPANCHYK, ICPDR President
Assessing military impacts on water bodies in the Danube Delta sub-basin and marine ecosystem: methodology and practice
Viktor DEMCHENKO, Deputy Director of the Institute of Marine Biology, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine Mechanisms of the assessment of military impacts on the environment
Angela BALAKLEYETS, Deputy Head of the State Ecological Inspection for the South-Western Region Outcomes of fieldwork to asses military impacts on ecosystems, and legal treatment of environmental damages according the Ukrainian criminal law
Olena KRAVCHENKO, Executive Director of Environment-People-Law, a public interest environmental law organization
Katerina POLIANSKA, Leading Ecologist at Environment-People-Law, a public interest environmental law organization
DISCUSSION
14.00 – 15.00 Lunch
15.00 – 16.30 PANEL DICUSSION: CIVIL SOCIETY INVOLVEMENT IN THE MANAGEMENT OF WATER RESOURCES, THEIR RESTORATION AND ADAPTATION TO THE EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE
Moderator:
Igor STUDENNIKOV, Executive Director of the Centre for Regional Studies, Member of the Executive Committee of the Danube Civil Society Forum
Public participation in water resources management in the Ukrainian part of the Danube Region to ensure their sustainable use
Olena MARUSHEVSKA, National Expert at the ICPDR Public Participation
Expert Group:
Ecological restoration of water resources in the Ukrainian part of the Danube Region: the experience in cooperation between non-state actors and public bodies
Oleg DYAKOV, Executive Director of Rewilding Ukraine, Senior Research Fellow at the Danube Biosphere Reserve, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
The role of international academic community in strengthening the expert potential for water ecosystem restoration in the time of war and in the process of Ukraine’s port-war recovery
Lilia GRICHULEVICH, Expert of the project SCIENCE AT RISK Emergency Office implemented by the Academic Network Eastern Europe (online)
From climatic risk assessment to a strategy for adaptation: the role of territorial communities and civil society in the protection of water resources in the Danube Region
Oksana KONOVALENKO, advisor on climate change adaptation, GIZ Ukraine
DISCUSSION
16.30 – 17.00 Concluding remarks and wrap-up of the 6th NPD Ukraine
17.30 – 19.30 Dinner
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