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European Rivers Drying Up from Climate Change
European rivers are at their lowest levels in over 500 years. Find out why this is a problem for the global economy and for ecosystems throughout Europe.
I live in a part of Canada called The Headwaters. It’s the high country roughly in the centre of the Great Lakes Basin in Southern Ontario.
This region is the source of four major Ontario rivers. These are the Credit, the Grand, the Humber and the Nottawasaga.
Settlers moved into our province from the Great Lakes inward. So most of the area’s towns and cities are situated along these four rivers.
Rivers Were Only Real Highways in 19th Century
This includes Toronto, Brampton, Mississauga, Etobicoke, Kitchener, Waterloo and Brantford along with countless smaller communities. These rivers were the only real highways in our province when my ancestors arrived here in the 19th century.
European rivers have a similar tradition. For example, the Danube once marked the edge of the Roman Empire and the Rhine is the traditional border between France and Germany.
Transportation along European rivers contributes $80 billion to the EU economy. Each year, the continent’s rivers carry a ton of freight for every person in Europe.
European Rivers Contribute $80 Billion to Economy
The Danube flows 2,850 km easterly from Germany through Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria Romania, Moldova and Ukraine before draining into the Black Sea.
Similarly, the Rhine flows northerly for 1,230 km through Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria, Germany France and the Netherlands. It ends its journey by emptying into the North Sea.
Countless European communities depend on these and other rivers as waterways. These include Budapest, Vienna, Belgrade, Amsterdam, Cologne and Zurich among many others.
