International Commission for the Protection of the Elbe River ∙ ICPER
About the ICPER
Establishment of ICPER
The International Commission for the Protection of the Elbe River Agreement was signed in Magdeburg on 8 October 1990.
Convention on the International Commission for the Protection of the Elbe
Contracting parties
- Federal Republic of Germany
- Czech Republic
Observers
- Austria
- Poland
- European Union
(EU was the ICPER contacting party until April 30, 2004, thus to the date of the accession of the Czech Republic to the EU on May 1, 2004) - International Commissions for the Protection of the Rhine, the Oder and the Danube rivers
- non-governmental organisations
Principal objectives
- making the use of water possible, especially promoting the retrieval of drinking water via river bank infiltration and enabling the agriculture to utilise the water and the sediments,
- achieving the most natural ecosystem possible; one that can provide for healthy species population,
- permanent strategy to decrease the burden imposed on the North Sea by the Elbe River basin.
To achieve these objectives, it is necessary
- to improve the status of the Elbe River and its tributaries from the physical, chemical, and biological conditions point of view; the components involved are water, suspended solids, sediments, and organisms,
- to improve the ecological value of the Elbe River riparian zone.