The coalition To Sustain the Nature in Bulgaria (SNB) issued a media statement on October 24 concerning the municipal elections on October 28. SNB called on people not to vote for mayoral or municipal council candidates who promised construction of new ski zones in national or nature parks in Bulgaria, or in Natura 2000 zones.

Most of the newly planned winter sport resorts in the country are in areas protected by Bulgarian and European legislation, areas in which the law bans all construction. In other words, SNB warned that there could be construction in many of these zones only if the law was broken and illegal permits were issued, which meant that mayors who supported construction would officially confirm that they wanted to become lawbreakers.

New ski zones in the country are planned in the protected areas Super Borovets and Panichishte in Rila National Park, which overlap into Rila Buffer Zone, Dobrinishte in Pirin National Park, Tryavna in Bulgarka Nature Park, Kom in western Stara Planina and Super Perelik in Rhodopi Mountain. Kom and Super Perelik are in zones proposed for inclusion in the European network of protected areas Natura 2000.

At the same time, climate change has already influenced the ski season’s length, making them shorter, and there is less snow at lower elevations. In Bulgaria as well as elsewhere, there is a trend is to reconsider the ski business; in Switzerland, ski resorts that are lower than 2000m above sea level are closing down. In addition, some of the Alpine countries’ banks have stopped financing new ski resorts planned at altitudes of less than 1500m.

However, paradoxically in Bulgaria, plans still survive for ski zones at much lower altitudes. Many of them are to rely on artificial snow, for which massive amounts of water are needed. Research shows that this leads to shortages of drinking water and other water-related issues in entire regions.

All Bulgarian territories where new ski pistes are planned have well preserved and protected nature heritage. With the support of the municipal and the central authorities, local people could develop domestic, sustainable tourism businesses. SNB said that for different reasons, the focus has moved to construction of big projects and the voice of the local authorities has been totally lost.

SNB again cited as an example the Bansko ski zone, where very few of the obligatory conditions given before construction could begin were fulfilled. As a result, this was felt in the lives of local society.