One of the biggest debates this year has been which zones in Bulgaria will be included in the European environmental network NATURA 2000.
The first weeks of 2007 have seen many Bulgarian landowners out in the streets in protest against NATURA 2000. Property owners and real estate investors in Bulgaria seek to include a minimal amount of Bulgarian lands in the environmental network, which now includes 109 bird protection sites and 196 habitat sites, representing more than 16 per cent and 15 per cent of Bulgaria’s territory, respectively.
Less protected land will give investors the opportunity to build massive tourism infrastructure closer to wild nature.
The ecological movement in Bulgaria proposes the development of a sustainable tourism industry and infrastructure for ecological and cultural tourism.
In late December 2006, the Cabinet met to discuss three different lists of proposed protected zones, which differ from each other by about 10 to 15 per cent of the territory.
Also in December 2006, in a bid to calm land owners, Economy and Energy Minister Roumen Ovcharov said the investment process in protected zones will not be banned. But, he said, “the appraisal mechanisms and the inclusion criteria for relevant sites will become more demanding”.
In Ovcharov’s opinion, ongoing investment projects and industrial activities will not stop if the required environmental impact assessments have been done.
Despite these assurances, landowners in towns in the Rila and Pirin mountains turned out for protests on January 14 and 15.
On January 12, Environment and Water Affairs Minister Djevdet Chakurov said even though protests against the protected zones network were increasing in Bulgaria, the country had no alternative but to meet its EU related commitments. Other EU member states have not seen such strong demonstrations against NATURA 2000, even though it is an obligation for EU countries to include about 20 per cent of their territories in the ecological network.
According to Bulgarian-language daily Sega, Razlog municipality, which on January 15 saw its third blockage of the road to Sofia in protest against NATURA 2000, was actually protesting against the existing Pirin National Park.
On January 15, Razlog town mayor Lyuben Tatarski held talks in Sofia with Chakurov. “It is not possible to exclude territories from NATURA 2000 because of investment intentions,” Chakurov said at the meeting with Tatarski. Tatarski asked whether it was possible not to include part of the Pirin National Park in the environmental network because the municipality had plans to build ski pistes there.
Chakurov answered that it was not the minister, the mayor or the regional governor who decided which zones would be included in NATURA 2000.
The criteria for inclusion in NATURA 2000 are solely scientific, he said, and depend on the valuable species inhabiting the zones. The status of Pirin National Park will remain unchanged regardless of whether it becomes part of the protected zones network, because it is already a national park.
Vesselina Durpatova of the protest committee in Razlog said that locals would travel to Sofia on January 18 to stage a rally outside the Cabinet offices. In a media statement, National Ombudsman Ginyu Ganev called on the Ministry of Environment and Waters and on all Bulgarian municipalities to hold public discussions on the critical sites under NATURA 2000.
At the first public hearing conducted on January 10 in Blagoevgrad, a representative of the local environmental association Tetida commented: “It is hard to see so many actors and cheerleaders gathered at one place. It is not to see every day such a big manifestation of greed, foolishness, lies and incompetence. A two-hour, absolutely free-of-charge show. I strongly recommend you go see it when it arrives in your town.”
According to an environmentalist from the civil group Daspasimirakli.com, the population of Pirin mountainous region that collected tens of thousands of signatures against NATURA 2000 was made to do so because of investors’ intentions in the region. The civil group and coalition Da ostane priroda v Bulgaria (To sustain nature in Bulgaria) intended to submit a petition with 50 000 signatures of Bulgarians who support the environmentalists and nature in Bulgaria.The petition will be submitted to the chairperson of the parliamentary committee on the environment Georgi Bojinov, the Cabinet and the European Commission delegation in Bulgaria, as well as to the Prosecutor-General. The date of the submission was shifted from January 17 because Sofia municipality refused to issue a permission to conduct a street demonstration to the environmentalists. The central part of the city was supposed to be closed on that day due to the visit of the Italian prime minister Romano Prodi, the city said.
Permission for a demonstration on January 18 was already issued to Razlog’s local population, raising its voice against NATURA 2000.
