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Box 3.2 River Mur recognised for effective river basin management

The River Mur flows from Austria, Slovenia, Hungary and Croatia before reaching the River Drava, a tributary of the Danube. The organisation managing the Mur Basin was awarded the second European River Prize during the 6th European River restoration conference (ERRC) in October 2014 (EEA 2014f).

Systematic river regulation since the late 19th Century has separated the river loops, branches and floodplain forests, which are important for the health of natural systems. Modifications including hydropower stations (in the upper part) and embankments have also degraded habitats. Nonetheless the Upper Mur is considered an ecologically valuable rivers in Europe, not least because it is the natural breeding site of the Danube salmon. It also has the second largest alluvial forest in Austria, one of Europe´s most species-rich habitats. The River Mur corridor in Slovenia is up to 1 km wide, and has a high variety of typical plant and animal communities ranging from pioneer to mature stages, including Pannonian–Dinaric and Pontic–Caspian elements, with large floodplain forests and side arm systems (Globevnik, and Mikoš, 2009).

Due to its high biotic diversity, a large part of the Mur corridor in Slovenia has been designated as a Natura 2000 site. The Natura-protected habitats are alluvial forests and hydrophilous tall herb fringe communities of floodplains. Nevertheless, ecological conditions for flood forest tree species in floodplains are deteriorating due to water shortage in oxbows, side arm channels and soils. The mouth of  the River Mur is one of the last remaining preserved system lowland rivers in Europe. Here both rivers, Drava and Mura are unregulated and continually create new habitats and restore existing which maintains high biological diversity.

River management on the Mur has largely focused on restoring old structures and recovering natural river habitats by reconnecting them with the dynamic river-system. Besides environmental benefits, these measures have other advantages including better passive flood protection and new natural recreation areas for the residents. Looking ahead, a section of the river will be designated where hydropower plants will be prohibited. Such measures show that management of the Mur is a good example of policy integration and stakeholder dialogue, two elements that are vitally important in successful river basin management.