About this episode
The episode discusses the severe drought in Europe during 2011 and its significant impacts on the Danube River and surrounding regions.
In 2011, after months of little or no rain in central and eastern Europe, water levels on some parts of the Danube River fell to their lowest level in 70 years. It’s one of Europe’s busiest shipping routes, but in November of that year, traffic ground to a halt on major sections of the Danube, and, on the Serbia-Hungary border, dozen of cargo ships were stranded. In Romania, one of the country’s nuclear power stations was at risk of shutdown because of insufficient water for cooling, and, in Serbia, the drought revealed sunken World War Two ships and unexploded bombs. In the lower Danube, low water levels also caused a decrease in bird and fish populations. Kristian Yakimov, an ecologist and tourist guide in Bulgaria, speaks to Jacqueline Paine. Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by and curious about the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more. Recent episodes explore everything from how the Excel spreadsheet…
People in this episode
Host: Jacqueline Paine
Guest: Kristian Yakimov
Topics covered
- drought
- environment
- shipping
- ecology
- history
- Europe
Keywords
- drought
- Danube River
- shipping routes
- ecology
- 2011
- water levels
- Serbia
- Romania
Mentioned in this episode
Places: Europe, Danube River, Serbia, Hungary, Romania
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