The six Black Sea countries, Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, the Russian Federation, Turkey and Ukraine, signed the Convention on the Protection of the Black Sea against Pollution (Bucharest convention) on 21 April 1992 and Black Sea Strategic Action Plan on 31 October 1996. 31 October has been celebrated as the International Black Sea Day by the Black Sea countries every year since 1996.
The aim of the International Black Sea Action Day is to draw public attention to pollution, excessive fishing, unsustainable development, excessive construction in coastal areas and unsustainable tourism. The main topic is the fight against pollution coming from rivers as a priority source of pollution and marine traffic. Measures and actions taken since the establishment of the Commission until today have brought the first signs of the Black Sea recovery.
Black Sea Action Day this year will be held for the 25th time in a row and represents the promise of a better future for the 16 million people from six countries dwelling on the shores.
The specific characteristics of the Black Sea make it vulnerable and endanger its ecosystem. Connected to the Mediterranean and the Sea of Marmara by the narrow strait of the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles, the almost closed Black Sea has very poor water circulation. Salty and sea water mix only in the upper 100 to 150 meters, while water below that limit mixes only once in a thousand years. The salinity of the Black Sea is significantly lower than in the Mediterranean, because four large European rivers flow into it – the Danube, Dnieper, Dniester and Don, which contribute to the pollution of the Black Sea waters.
As a country that belongs to the Danube basin, the Danube flows through Serbia with its 588 km, we need to ask ourselves how much we affect the pollution of the Black Sea and what we can do to keep the pollution as low as possible. At the place where the great river reaches the Black Sea, it forms an impressive delta, which is the habitat of about 300 species of birds and 45 species of fish.
The Danube, the second largest river in Europe, next to Serbia, flows through Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine and Moldova.
