EARTH Day, April 22, is recognised throughout the world as a day to educate people about the importance of protecting the environment.
For Green Balkans, a non-governmental organisation in Plovdiv, every day is Earth Day, however.
Green Balkans was founded in 1988 by a group of Plovdiv University students concerned about the communist regime’s poisoning of more than a million over-wintering birds. It has evolved into the largest environmental NGO in Bulgaria.
Its supporters include 2,500 members and more than 100 active volunteers – the largest active volunteer base of any organisation in Bulgaria.
The mission today is to preserve, study, and restore biodiversity throughout Bulgaria and the Balkan Peninsula as a whole. This is especially important in Bulgaria because it is currently ranked second in biodiversity in Europe after Spain.
Peace Corps Volunteer Melissa Nix, who works with Green Balkans, said: “Biodiversity embraces the variety of all animal and plant species, recognising the importance of each species to the maintenance of the world’s many interlinked ecosystems. With ecosystems intricately interlinked, biodiversity acknowledges the interdependence of all living species and ultimately encourages respect for all life on Earth. Appreciating that humans are one small part of a much greater web of life, we as humans must respect and protect the variety of life on Earth if we ourselves are to enjoy a future.”
To achieve this mission, Green Balkans hopes to raise environmental and nature conservation awareness among community members, to involve citizens in volunteer activities for biodiversity conservation and sustainable development and to create an effective system of citizen control for compliance with Bulgarian and International Nature Protection Legislation. It does this through work on more than 47 conservation, education and other projects carried out by branches, working groups and representatives in 25 towns and villages throughout Bulgaria.
Some of these projects include protecting and restoring rare and endangered bird species including the Imperial Eagle, Cinereous Vulture, Pygmy Cormorant, Ferruginous Duck and colonies of Herons, Avocet and Sandwich Tern. Volunteers build nests, plant trees and monitor bird numbers in an effort to increase local populations.
Volunteer Milena Yordanova said: “As opposed to the mere six pairs of Sandwich Terns at Pomorie Lake just five years ago, now more than 260 breeding pairs have been observed on the concrete islands that we built.”
In 1995, Green Balkans founded the Centre for Rare and Threatened Species in Stara Zagora. It is the only facility in Bulgaria that nurses injured rare birds back to health and returns them to the wild. In its sixth year, nearly 200 birds have been reintroduced into nature.
Conservation officer Ivelin Ivanov said: “Our goal was that birds that can’t be released would be kept for breeding and their offspring would be released into nature.” His goal was in fact met last week with the hatching of a Long-eared Owl. “It was the first time we found success with breeding at the centre,” he said.
Restoring and conserving Bulgaria’s wetlands are also significant projects for Green Balkans. Ivanov described Bulgaria as having been rich with wetlands just 30 years ago. Now, the number of these areas is 20 times lower than it used to be.
“So much biodiversity is found in these areas,” he said. “Our idea is to keep those last, most vital wetlands from disappearing.” Work is already underway on the Danube with the Danube Carpathian Programme, on Pomorie Lake near the Black Sea and on the Maritza River.
An example of a way the organisation reaches out to communities is its annual Earth Day poster contest in Plovdiv. With the help of local schools and the central McDonald’s, first through to fourth graders (ages 7-10) are encouraged to paint pictures illustrating the theme: The Earth our Home. Local artists judge the pictures and award prizes to the young artists at a special Earth Day celebration. There, Ronald McDonald leads the captive audience in chants of “We love the Earth” along with discussions about the environment, sing-alongs, dancing and game playing.
Nix said: “It’s a chance for youth to get together and learn more about the Earth in general and protecting the environment. This is the third year of our involvement with the project. The first year we received 150 entries and last year there were 300.”
Ivanov said that if people are taught about respecting the environment while they are young, maybe in two or three generations, people may begin to change the way they think about the environment. By then, however, it will be too late to save species like the Imperial Eagle.
He said: “Civil society doesn’t exist in Bulgaria – people coming together working for common goals. There’s a fear of people getting involved and working together left over from the communist government. That’s the most difficult problem.
“We’re happy to see people appearing at government levels who have a greater appreciation for civil society, but unfortunately, these are exceptions. One of the most extreme challenges is to change the way people think. Laws are changing daily and people don’t have respect for those laws. There are no enforcement control organs or the ones that do exist don’t respect the laws themselves.”
Ivanov is also concerned about the large numbers of poachers who have been flooding into Bulgaria since the fall of communism. “People from all over the world are coming here for poaching,” he said. “They have the money and it’s cheap in Bulgaria. They go to the protected areas and kill the endangered species.”
Another environmental challenge has to do with Bulgaria’s efforts to enter the European Union. “There’s a lot of money coming into Bulgaria that has to be used for some type of development. The government doesn’t have advisers for how to use the money. They’re just throwing it at projects without long-term plans. They aren’t considering how these projects will affect the environment.”
Ivanov explained that people have a desire for development and to get rich quick because the country has been poor for so long. This has especially affected areas like the Maritza River in Plovdiv. “Private companies are taking the trees and the sand – they’re taking everything. The goal is to stop the bulldozing.”
For more information about Green Balkans or to volunteer, contact chairman of the board Hristo Nikolov at greenbal@mbox.digsys.bg.
For Green Balkans, a non-governmental organisation in Plovdiv, every day is Earth Day, however.
Green Balkans was founded in 1988 by a group of Plovdiv University students concerned about the communist regime’s poisoning of more than a million over-wintering birds. It has evolved into the largest environmental NGO in Bulgaria.
Its supporters include 2,500 members and more than 100 active volunteers – the largest active volunteer base of any organisation in Bulgaria.
The mission today is to preserve, study, and restore biodiversity throughout Bulgaria and the Balkan Peninsula as a whole. This is especially important in Bulgaria because it is currently ranked second in biodiversity in Europe after Spain.
Peace Corps Volunteer Melissa Nix, who works with Green Balkans, said: “Biodiversity embraces the variety of all animal and plant species, recognising the importance of each species to the maintenance of the world’s many interlinked ecosystems. With ecosystems intricately interlinked, biodiversity acknowledges the interdependence of all living species and ultimately encourages respect for all life on Earth. Appreciating that humans are one small part of a much greater web of life, we as humans must respect and protect the variety of life on Earth if we ourselves are to enjoy a future.”
To achieve this mission, Green Balkans hopes to raise environmental and nature conservation awareness among community members, to involve citizens in volunteer activities for biodiversity conservation and sustainable development and to create an effective system of citizen control for compliance with Bulgarian and International Nature Protection Legislation. It does this through work on more than 47 conservation, education and other projects carried out by branches, working groups and representatives in 25 towns and villages throughout Bulgaria.
Some of these projects include protecting and restoring rare and endangered bird species including the Imperial Eagle, Cinereous Vulture, Pygmy Cormorant, Ferruginous Duck and colonies of Herons, Avocet and Sandwich Tern. Volunteers build nests, plant trees and monitor bird numbers in an effort to increase local populations.
Volunteer Milena Yordanova said: “As opposed to the mere six pairs of Sandwich Terns at Pomorie Lake just five years ago, now more than 260 breeding pairs have been observed on the concrete islands that we built.”
In 1995, Green Balkans founded the Centre for Rare and Threatened Species in Stara Zagora. It is the only facility in Bulgaria that nurses injured rare birds back to health and returns them to the wild. In its sixth year, nearly 200 birds have been reintroduced into nature.
Conservation officer Ivelin Ivanov said: “Our goal was that birds that can’t be released would be kept for breeding and their offspring would be released into nature.” His goal was in fact met last week with the hatching of a Long-eared Owl. “It was the first time we found success with breeding at the centre,” he said.
Restoring and conserving Bulgaria’s wetlands are also significant projects for Green Balkans. Ivanov described Bulgaria as having been rich with wetlands just 30 years ago. Now, the number of these areas is 20 times lower than it used to be.
“So much biodiversity is found in these areas,” he said. “Our idea is to keep those last, most vital wetlands from disappearing.” Work is already underway on the Danube with the Danube Carpathian Programme, on Pomorie Lake near the Black Sea and on the Maritza River.
An example of a way the organisation reaches out to communities is its annual Earth Day poster contest in Plovdiv. With the help of local schools and the central McDonald’s, first through to fourth graders (ages 7-10) are encouraged to paint pictures illustrating the theme: The Earth our Home. Local artists judge the pictures and award prizes to the young artists at a special Earth Day celebration. There, Ronald McDonald leads the captive audience in chants of “We love the Earth” along with discussions about the environment, sing-alongs, dancing and game playing.
Nix said: “It’s a chance for youth to get together and learn more about the Earth in general and protecting the environment. This is the third year of our involvement with the project. The first year we received 150 entries and last year there were 300.”
Ivanov said that if people are taught about respecting the environment while they are young, maybe in two or three generations, people may begin to change the way they think about the environment. By then, however, it will be too late to save species like the Imperial Eagle.
He said: “Civil society doesn’t exist in Bulgaria – people coming together working for common goals. There’s a fear of people getting involved and working together left over from the communist government. That’s the most difficult problem.
“We’re happy to see people appearing at government levels who have a greater appreciation for civil society, but unfortunately, these are exceptions. One of the most extreme challenges is to change the way people think. Laws are changing daily and people don’t have respect for those laws. There are no enforcement control organs or the ones that do exist don’t respect the laws themselves.”
Ivanov is also concerned about the large numbers of poachers who have been flooding into Bulgaria since the fall of communism. “People from all over the world are coming here for poaching,” he said. “They have the money and it’s cheap in Bulgaria. They go to the protected areas and kill the endangered species.”
Another environmental challenge has to do with Bulgaria’s efforts to enter the European Union. “There’s a lot of money coming into Bulgaria that has to be used for some type of development. The government doesn’t have advisers for how to use the money. They’re just throwing it at projects without long-term plans. They aren’t considering how these projects will affect the environment.”
Ivanov explained that people have a desire for development and to get rich quick because the country has been poor for so long. This has especially affected areas like the Maritza River in Plovdiv. “Private companies are taking the trees and the sand – they’re taking everything. The goal is to stop the bulldozing.”
For more information about Green Balkans or to volunteer, contact chairman of the board Hristo Nikolov at greenbal@mbox.digsys.bg.
