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River landscapes have served as areas for settlements, infrastructure, and production for several thousand years. They provide water for drinking, cooling, and irrigation, fish as food supply or for recreational fishing, and areas for flood protection, and they can have cultural and esthetic value. The increasing intensification of land use and the associated channelization, damming, and other radical changes (e.g., through operation of hydropower plants) led to a shift of the functions and related services available in river landscapes. To counteract this trend, one first step is to enhance public awareness of their importance.

Public participation can generally be defined as allowing people to influence the outcome of plans and working processes that constitute the operations of governance (CIS 2003). It can be practiced in different phases of integrated river basin management, but the public’s environmental understanding forms one basis for participation. Environmental education is the process of recognizing values and clarifying concepts in order to develop skills and attitudes necessary to understand and appreciate the interrelation among people, their culture, and their biophysical surroundings (Palmer 2003). In this chapter, we discuss how environmental education and public participation interact with and are influenced by each other and need to be embedded in all areas and levels of societal processes.

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Major studies, conducted recently at some Danube hydropower impoundments and along the river itself, have pinpointed certain challenging ecological situations for certain faunal associations (Schiemer 2000; Jungwirth 1984; Waidbacher 1989; Herzig 1987; Bretschko1992). One of the important groups affected are riverine fish assemblages. Fish communities are good indicators of habitat structure as well as of the ecological integrity of river systems due to their complex habitat requirements at different stages of their life cycles (Schmutz et al. 2014; Schiemer 2000; Schmutz and Jungwirth 1999). The construction of impoundments changes river systems ecologically by disrupting the connection between the river and the lateral backwaters, by changing the shoreline, and by stabilizing previously dynamic water levels as well as other impacts (Schiemer and Waidbacher 1992).

Along the Upper Danube, almost all former floodplain areas have been lost due to river regulation, large-scale land-use changes, and terrestrialization processes. In the Lobau floodplain near the City of Vienna, ongoing terrestrialization leads to a dramatic loss of aquatic and semiaquatic habitats. Although the ecological values of the remaining floodplain area, such as high productivity and high biodiversity, are widely acknowledged, the implementation of restoration measures is difficult. In urban environments such as the Lobau, planning and decision-making for floodplain restoration inevitably involves tradeoffs, uncertainties, and conflicting objectives and value judgments. Beyond ecological values, the main socioeconomic aspects are flood control, drinking water supply for Vienna, and recreation.

The aim of this chapter is to present the current ecological situation and the major development tendencies of the Lobau floodplain and to show the effects of potential management measures on the ecological situation.

Sturgeons are an ancient order of fish (Acipenseriformes), dating back in their occurrence to over 200 million years ago. The order comprises two families (Acipenseridae and Polyodontidae) and 27 species. Their natural range is restricted to the northern hemisphere. Sturgeons exhibit a very long life cycle (maximum lifespan up to over 150 years, depending on species). They are late-maturing species, and many grow to very large sizes (up to 6–7 m long). Most of the sturgeon species are anadromous. There are also potamodromous (landlocked) species and forms, spending their entire life cycle in freshwater (Fig. 26.1).

Burkina Faso (BF) is a Sahelian country located in West Africa on the arid southern rim of the Sahara. In this region all work and movement revolve around water and its availability, whether in nature or society. The aquatic ecosystems responsible for storing and replenishing the quantity and quality of water are vital for the productivity and food security of all flora and fauna as well as all society, whether nomadic herdsmen, sedentary farmers, or urban workers. The rising contribution of fish to provide protein in the diet has only increased the importance of managing fish and the aquatic landscapes they depend on. However, achieving sustainable fisheries is complicated by threats to productivity (more frequent droughts in a drying climate) and consumption (record population growth rates), as well as governance constraints.

At 156,000 km the Tisza river is one of the largest tributaries of the Danube river. Historically, almost the entire Tisza river basin (TRB) was under one administration (the Austro-Hungarian Empire), but management has become far more complex after World War I, when the basin was split among five newly formed countries (Hungary, (Czecho)-Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania and Serbia). The river exhibits extreme dynamics due to its particular geomorphology: a very short, steep fall from the Carpathian mountains suddenly turns into the very flat lowland expanse of the Hungarian Great Plain. The arc-like shape of mountains around the basin amplifies the flood peak by causing stormwater received from the tributaries to converge on the main river channel in near unison. The resulting impoundment of high water in the main bed backs water up into the tributaries, threatening the neighbouring floodplain communities. The mountains receive 3–4 times the amount of precipitation that falls on the plains (2000 vs. 600 mm/year). These combined factors make the Tisza naturally “flashy,” with flow rates varying by a factor of 50 or more, accompanied by sudden (in 24–36 h) and extreme (up to 12 m) rises in river stage (Lóczy 2010).

Science and society are interlinked systems as research topics are defined by societal needs and research outputs trigger societal development. This was particularly the case in the environmental sciences within recent decades: the “Environmental Movement” emerged as a powerful social phenomenon in twentieth-century society via different pathways. Pioneers of the movement were protesters against large infrastructure projects such as hydropower dams or massive pollution of rivers. Green parties took up the momentum and provided political platforms for green thinking. Environmental legislation was implemented, and science contributed to a more sustainable management of aquatic ecosystems via the so-called triangle of sustainability linking environment, society, and economy.