To the Danube – Black Sea Basin Stocktaking Meeting
The Black Sea is widely recognized as one of the regional seas most damaged by human activity. Almost one third of the entire land area of continental Europe drains into this sea. It is an area, which includes major parts of seventeen countries, thirteen capital cities and some 160 million persons. The second, third and fourth major European rivers, the Danube, Dnieper and Don, discharge into this sea while its only connection to the world's oceans is the narrow Bosphorus Strait. The Bosphorus is as little as 70 meters deep and 700 meters wide but the depth of the Black Sea itself exceeds two kilometers in places. Contaminants and nutrients enter the Black Sea via river run-off mainly and by direct discharge from land-based sources. The management of the Black Sea itself is the shared responsibility of the six coastal countries: Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, Russian Federation, Turkey, and Ukraine.
To the Danube – Black Sea Basin Stocktaking Meeting.pdf