Government approves Bulgaria's Natura 2000 territories

09:00 Mon 26 Feb 2007 - Elitsa Grancharova

NATURAL ARRESTS: On February 17, a crowd of about 150 citizens gathered in a peaceful "nature-crazy people" (as they called themselves) march in pyjamas on the Sofia streets. 'After everybody has been telling us that we are crazy to protect nature against the pressure of so much money, we decided to justify our name with the parade," said the participants, Bulgarian-language website Bluelink.net reported.

The Bulgarian Government approved the territories for inclusion in the Natura 2000 European environmental network of protected zones on February 15.

The decision seemed accommodating to those with money to invest in development: announced for inclusion were 109 zones protected by the Birds Directive – 16 per cent of Bulgaria’s territory, and 196 by the Habitats Directive – 15 per cent of continental Bulgaria, which is the proposed minimum of areas minus the zones with clear investment interests.

Initially, the documentation prepared on behalf of the Ministry of Environment and Water Affairs (MOEW) called for 225 sites proposed in line with the European Commission (EC) Habitats Directive, and 114 sites according to the EC Birds Directive.

Postponed for inclusion in Natura 2000 are many wild and undeveloped territories around the Black Sea coast – northern Shabla Lake, Varnensko-Beloslavsko Lake, Emine, Kamchia, Irakli, Durankulak Lake, Cape Kaliakra, Galata, Shcorpilovtsi beach. The Durankulak lake, which fell out of the list, is also protected by international conventions, and is part of the world nature heritage, Bulgarian-language Dnevnik reported.

Surprisingly, exclusive Bulgarian treasures, such as the striking sandstone formations around Melnik in south-western Bulgaria, the impressive crags and cliffs surrounding Trigrad in Rhodope Mountain and the Rupite area in south-western Bulgaria, where one can climb extinct volcanic rocks and enjoy natural hot mineral springs, were left out of the protected zones network.

“With this decision, the Bulgarian Government has officially introduced ‘investment interests’ as criteria for defining the network. This is in clear contravention to EU as well as national law, which sets out that the scope of the network is determined by scientific criteria only,” said a WWF Bulgaria media statement.

The Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds (BSPB) said the decision was a gross violation of the European Bird Directive.

“The European legislation, in effect since January 1 2007, clearly enacts that bird zones are to be defined only on the basis of scienFtific criteria and other arguments cannot be taken into account,” a BSPB media statement said. According to the BSPB, 100 per cent of the red-neck goose population, concentrated in the Shabla and Durankulak lakes regions, and 70 per cent of the white stork population, as well as the national population of the king eagle, now lack protection.

Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev said: “The Government was looking for a balance between the necessity to guarantee Bulgaria’s long-term environmental and biodiversity protection and the necessity of guaranteeing availability of conditions for sustainable and fast economic development of the various regions”. His statement appeared to confirm that the Government was anxious to look after private sector interests, and had its own understanding of the word “sustainable”.

Another 37 zones, together with the wild bird protection zones in Western Strandzha, Vasiliovska Mountain, Sakar Mountain, Western Stara Planina and Sredna Gora Mountain will be submitted for a second round of approval in the National Biodiversity Council no later than October 2007, Stanishev said.

The question remains open whether by October 2007 these territories will still be without regional development plans that would enable them to be given protected area status.

Stanishev said that there would be another, “independent” in his words, external technical investigation involving “prominent Bulgarian scientists”. This will aim to inform society and the Government about all arguments relevant to inclusion of any territory in Natura 2000. “From now on, a very important priority will be the information campaign,” Stanishev said.

The Ministry of Environment and Water Affairs will be in charge of organising campaigns for all procedures related to implementing Natura 2000.

To carry out steps to implement Natura 2000, 212 557 500 leva have been set aside in the “Environment 2007-2013” operative programme. Eighty-five per cent of this amount (180 600 000 leva) will from the European Union Cohesion Fund and the remaining 15 per cent will come from the Bulgarian Budget.