Posted on 12 November
2010
Sofia, Bulgaria: Development and constructions
in forests and protected areas could continue
to be counted as forested areas under proposed
new laws now before
the Bulgarian National Assembly, WWF warned
today.
The Draft Forest Act
could also legalise many existing illegal
developments carried out in protected areas,
enable land to be passed with little scrutiny
or safeguards from public to private ownership
and control and increase the risk of corrupt
dealings over protected areas.
“Formally removing the
requirement to reclassify forests to carry
out development will only start a trend
that would do immense damage to forested
and protected areas important to all of
Europe,” said Vesselina Kavrakova, Programme
Manager of the WWF Danube - Carpathian Programme
in Bulgaria.
“The Draft Forest Act
makes it easier to develop infrastructure
and construct buildings in forests, including
in protected areas and Natura 2000 sites.
The draft provisions mean that investors
could build chair-lifts, tow-lifts, wind
turbines and photovoltaic facilities in
forested areas without undergoing an administrative
procedure to exclude the land from the forest
territory.
“This would decrease
the valuable forest cover, while at the
same time allowing the government to claim
that built up areas are forest territories”.
“It allows for the easy
transition of the public’s natural assets
to private hands to the detriment of state
and society alike. Approved in its present
state, the Draft Forest Act would represent
a giant step back from the efforts to protect
and sustainably manage Bulgarian forests”,
Kavrakova said.
Over the past few years,
protection regimes in protected areas in
Bulgaria were often disregarded and nature
and national parks, as well as Natura 2000
sites saw a wave of construction and development
. Among the new EU member states, Bulgaria
is the country with the highest number of
infringement procedures for violating nature
conservation regulations, having built ski
facilities and wind turbines in protected
areas. Violation of protected areas regulations
has attracted a giant wave of public concern.
Similar amendments to the Forest Act were
rejected on two occasions over the past
ten years due to public pressure.
“Such provisions are
actually economic presents for investors
receiving valuable resources without competition”,
Kavrakova said. “But in several recent sociologic
surveys Bulgarians have shown their strong
will to conserve forests and protect the
protected areas in earnest. In 2010 WWF
collected over 70,000 signatures in support
of sustainable management of Bulgarian forests”.
One third of Bulgarian
territory is covered by forests, and these
are home to two thirds of the country's
species, including endangered species such
as Brown Bear, Europeans Wolf, White-Backed
Woodpecker, Golden and Lesser-Spotted Eagle
among others. Thus Bulgaria contributes
significantly to the implementation of EU
policies and strategies on halting biodiversity
loss and fighting climate change. Facilitating
construction in forested areas would be
a significant loss for the EU, something
that WWF intends to raise in Brussels.
The draft also creates
opportunity for sale of state property within
protected areas.
“Seventy five years
ago, the Bulgarian state was purchasing
private lands in order to create protected
areas in the public interest. Today state
land in protected areas is public and no
government so far has dared to change this.
But under the new provisions, investors
will be able to purchase the land under
the buildings and facilities they operate,
and in this way the door will be open for,
among other things, illegally constructed
buildings and facilities to be legalized.”
Investor interests are
also threatening Bulgaria’s eleven nature
parks, which altogether form the largest
protected area in Bulgaria.
“In the draft, an opportunity
is given for nature parks to be transferred
for governance to municipalities. Unfortunately,
in Bulgaria no positive examples exist to
date of municipalities willing to take proper
care of protected areas”.
Municipalities such
as Sliven have lobbied to take control of
natural resources as these areas are emblematic
for the country and therefore easier to
‘exploit’. But local administration in Bulgaria
is often accused of corrupt practices, adding
to the concern that protected areas may
become victims of private interests.
A startling example
comes from the municipality of Tsarevo which
four years ago went as far as to appeal
in court the designation as protected area
of Strandzha Nature Park, the largest protected
area in South-Eastern Europe.
“The forest sector in
Bulgaria does need a reform to ensure responsible
forest management and, to this end, we have
supported the efforts of the state forest
administration”, Kavrakova said. “By participating
in working groups, proposing texts and providing
statements, WWF forest experts have worked
for and today welcome a number of positive
provisions in the Draft Forests Act like
forest certification and payment for ecosystem
services”.
In addition, WWF works
in partnership with the state forest administration
in the country to certify state Bulgarian
forests according to the requirements of
the Forest Stewardship Council, to introduce
multifunctional forest management in model
areas and to promote the concept of High
Conservation Value Forests.
“Bulgaria has already
achieved a great deal on some measures important
to forest conservation,” Kavrakova said.
”We very much trust that the National Assembly
of Bulgaria will reject the unacceptable
texts and will proceed with the proposed
Forest Act without them.”
+ More
World Energy Outlook
joins the dots on climate action and energy
security
Posted on 09 November
2010
London: Today’s World Energy Outlook, keynote
annual publication of the international
Energy Agency, shows the continuing mainstreaming
of the view that effective climate action
is clearly linked to future sustainable
energy security WWF commented today.
“While we don’t necessarily
endorse all the detail, WWF is highly gratified
with the IEA’s growing emphasis on energy
efficiency and renewable energy to enhance
effective carbon abatement regimes,” said
Dr Stephan Singer, Director of Global Energy
Policy for WWF International.
“We are pleased that
they highlight the need to overcome the
approximate annual $US700 billion in fossil
fuel subsidies. This money, about one per
cent of global GDP, needs to go to support
renewable and energy conservation and help
the poor.”
“We are also pleased
with the strong push by the IEA that eradicating
energy poverty for more than one third of
the world’s population is a major development
issue, with clean renewables best placed
to deliver cost effective, equitable and
sustainable solutions.”
WWF will shortly be
issuing a detailed analysis of the World
Energy Outlook, both in the run up to the
Cancun UN climate conference commencing
later this month and its own forthcoming
analysis of energy prospects and possibilities.
