News

Vote for the Lesser Kestrel!
“GREEN BALKANS' Federation
Mar 26, 2016
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The Lesser Kestrel Recovery Project (LIFE11 NAT/BG/360) is one of the 24 finalists for the Natura 2000 Award of the European Commission.

A total of four projects from Bulgaria were recognized and are now competing in the final stage of the competition in different categories.
Conservationists: the campaign against Bulgarian conservationist NGOs is an assault on civil society as a whole, as well as on Bulgarian nature as a public value; the silence of the institutions is alarming, they warn
Mar 23, 2016
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Today the coalition of non-governmental organizations and civic groups For the Nature organized a special press conference to expose a public campaign aimed to compromise its members as an attempted assault on civil society and the right to protect nature as a public value. Besides tarnishing the good name of actual organizations, the campaign also provokes a negative attitude towards key wildlife species, civil society and towards charity in general.
Press conference on topic: The campaign against the environmentalist NGOs is an attack against the civil society and Bulgarian nature as a value
Mar 22, 2016
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The Coalition of NGOs and civil groups “Let the NATURE remain in Bulgaria” organizes a press conference tomorrow, 23 March, Wednesday, 10.00 a.m at the Press Club of BTA on topic: “The campaign against the environmentalist NGOs is an attack against the civil society and Bulgarian nature as a value. The European Commission will be referred to for the silent agreement of the Bulgarian government”.
For the capercaillies and wood-peckers with love
Do you remember Zheko and Yanez? Quite probably you have not heard about them and you have no idea who they are. These are 2 wood grouses from the impressive and still wild Rila Mountain. Two birds so unique and important as every one of us is. No matter if you’ve heard about them, they are still in their forest. They are still its kings and until they are still there, the forest and all the rest will remain. The people will be around the forest, because it is part of our home and every one of us loves to return home.
The second edition of the Youth Festival for the Earth is here
What is the potential of hemp culture for the protection of the environment? How artificial reefs help us to "clean up" the sea? What is Trans-Atlantic partnership for trade and investment between the EU and the USA and why it concerns me? These are just a few of the presentations that you can hear and the questions that will be answered if you spend your time on Saturday (March 26th from 10:00 to 22:00) to visit all-day festival or as we call it, Youth Festival „For the Earth" in the Underground gallery/studio, Sofia.
'Books in exchange for garbage' returns on the 16th of April with new titles and more cities
Mar 21, 2016
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For the fourth consecutive year, "Books in exchange for garbage" - the most successful initiative combining reading and responsible attitude towards the environment, was launched on 16 April in Sofia and is going to be developed in stages in different cities by the end of May. This year, Kjutendil has also joined the initiative.The campaign is going to be also held in Burgas, Veliko Tarnovo and Pleven.
Students create information posters about human actions in the case of a disaster
Mar 21, 2016
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Bulgarian Environmental Partnership Foundation marked the beginning of the second school term with eco-educational activities in five schools in North-Western Bulgaria. What should we do when disaster strikes? Just wait and see what will happen? Cry out helplessly? Or be prepared? We tried to find the answers to these questions together with the students of Hristo Botev General School in the town of Mezdra, and Nikola Vaptsarov GS #1 and Georgi Rakovski GS #4 in the town of Berkovitza.
Environmentalists call for the Eco-Ministry to make public the results of an inspection on three EU projects by tomorrow
Mar 17, 2016
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The Coalition of Non-Governmental Organizations and Civil Groups “Let Nature Remain in Bulgaria” sent an open letter to the Minister of the Environment and Water Ivelina Vasileva, following an statement from Supreme Administrative Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO), published on its website on Monday, March 14, 2016. The statement by SAPO is on account of projects in Axis 3 of Operational Program Environment (OPE) 2007-2013, in which non-governmental organisations, members of Let Nature Remain in Bulgaria Coalition, participated. It is alleged in the statement that “following the inspections by SAPO and their analyses, published in the articles (Trud newspaper) and in the documents required by the MEW, the concerns about the legality of the activities and the spending of the funds provided by the EU have been confirmed.”

This information, thus presented, without the beneficiaries having being informed about the results of the inspection, and without concrete data about discrepancies and unverified, was disseminated in the media leading to spoiling the reputation of the organisations which have worked for protecting of biodiversity for many years. And this is unacceptable!
Do the amendments to the Forest Act from June 2015 put an end to illegal logging?
Mar 14, 2016
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„The amendments to the Forest Act – six months later“, was the heading during the debate on the initiative “Green Laws”, which took place in the Center for Culture and Debate “The Red House” on March 10, 2016, with the participation of representatives from the Government, National Assembly, forestry guild, and NGO. Here are some of the participants:
• Associate Professor Georgi Kostov – Deputy Minister at Ministry of Agriculture and Food (MAF)
• Eng. Toni Krastev – Executive Director at Executive Agency on Forests at MAF
• Eng. Rumen Zhelev - Member of Parliament from the political party GERB, member of the Commission on Agriculture and Food in the 43rd National Assembly
• Eng. Zhivko Bogdanov – expert and member of the political party “Zelenite” (the Greens)
• Eng. Tihomir Tomanov – National Association of Municipalities–owners of forests and land of the Forest Fund
The participants were united in their positive assessment of the amendments to the law from June 2015, which had led to higher transparency in the forest system, but also noted the ongoing illegal logging and the need for new methods for improving the control.
Environmentalists: The agreement for the ski zone Bansko is a hostage of the state idleness
Mar 07, 2016
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The coalition of NGOs and civil groups “For the Nature” stepped forward with a precise suggestion for finding a suitable solution to the problems related to the governance of ski zone Bansko in the National Park Pirin. The guideline will be announced today at 11 o’clock at a public meeting in the Ministry of the Environment and Water, organized following the request of the Prime Minister Boyko Borissov.

Last week, Borissov announced that if common grounds are not established swiftly, he will terminate the concession of the ski zone Bansko. The current situation developed after an accusation that the cabinet of the Prime Minister is prepared to change the concession contract in conditions contradicting the complete transparency of the process. According to the accusations, his plan was to legalize all infringements of the concessionary and thus allow additional expansion of the ski zone, damaging the environment and the century-old forests in the National Park.