They contribute about 80 billion euros to their economy. EUROPE. and more than one ton of cargo passes through them annually for every EU citizen, and some serve the production energy. But now the rivers of Europe are drying up, from the Rhine to the Danube and other smaller and lesser-known rivers of the Old Continent. The damage is expected to be greater than the €5 billion damage caused in 2018 by the shutdown of trade on the Rhine, when the water level in it fell so much that further movement of ships became impossible.

In the Rhine, which for centuries has been a mainstay of the economies of Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland, the water level has fallen so low that ships cannot pass, disrupting the transport of diesel fuel and coal that enters power plants. The Danube, which is about 2,897 kilometers long and flows through Central Europe to the Black Sea, also tends to dry up, making it unsuitable for shipping and trading grains and more. Across Europe, transport is just one side of trade served by rivers and currently affected by the climate crisis. In France, for example, the energy crisis is aggravated by the fact that the waters of the Rhone and Garonne have warmed up so much that they cannot be used to cool the country’s nuclear reactors, half of which have already been decommissioned. In Italy, the water level in the Po River has fallen so low that it is not enough to irrigate rice fields, and Norway is preparing to stop exporting energy resources to the EU. because the water level in its hydroelectric facilities has decreased and is insufficient to provide electricity to the country’s households.

Problems in France with nuclear reactors and in Norway with hydroelectric power plants.

Even at the best of times, it was a challenge to disrupt rivers and canals, but now the situation is worrisome as Europe teeters on the brink of recession due to inflation caused by the war in Ukraine, which has cut energy and food supplies. Four years after 2018, when falling water levels in the Rhine prevented the passage of ships, Europe is faced with an urgent need to protect traffic along rivers and canals. “The problem is not only in the transport of goods or irrigation, but in many other things,” emphasizes Cecile Azward, director of the French water management company VNF, who emphasizes that “rivers are part of our heritage.” The impact on the European economy will be far worse than the €5bn damage caused by disruption of Rhine transit trade in 2018, according to Albert Jan Swart, transport economist at ABN Amro Bank NV. will drop significantly, while in Germany electricity prices will continue to rise.”