The partnership aims to promote public awareness and involvement in projects to conserve and protect freshwater ecosystems relating to the Danube River basin. In 1974, the member countries of the Intergovernmental Coordinating Committee of La Plata Basin Countries created the Financial Fund for the Development of the River Plate Basin (FONPLATA). The mission of IFAS is to fund joint environmental and research programmes and projects aimed at saving the Aral Sea, improving the environmental situation in the areas affected by the disaster and addressing common social and environmental challenges in the subregion.