The seminar started with a ceremony of honoring the achievements of Professor Janusz
Kindler, former Chair and a founding father of Global Water Partnership Central and Eastern Europe (GWP CEE). Prof. Tomasz Okruszko, GWP CEE Chair handed Prof. Kindler a letter of appreciation from the GWP Steering Committee as an appreciation of Prof. Kindler’s achievements in advocating for sustainable water resources management in CEE region and recognized him as Life Honorary Chair of GWP Central and Eastern Europe.
The seminar focused on inland waterway transport system and the impacts of navigation on the environment. Prof. Janusz Kindler, GWP Poland gave an overview of the inland navigation in Europe for the period 1991-2016. The general features of the inland waterway transport system in Europe were discussed, and the performance in the selected period was assessed. An interesting part of the session were the presented prospects for inland waterway transport system in Europe for the future.
Helene Masliah-Gilkarov from the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR), gave a presentation on Balancing the needs of navigation and environment, during which she shared the lessons learnt from the Danube river basin.
The seminar ended with a detailed presentation of the waterway infrastructure projects in the last few years, presented by Marcin Bilinski of Warsaw University of Technology, who introduced selected projects intended by Polish Government and several European investments (Canal Seine-Nord Europe, Oder-Havel Canal, Niederfinow Boat Lift). The following discussion focused on the environmental impacts related to construction of waterways, demand for inland navigation transport and economic issues.