What should the government do in order to protect the Black Sea from being overbuilt?

Jul 05, 2013
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What should the government do in order to protect the Black Sea from being overbuilt?
Yesterday's decision to define the documentation for Park "Bulgarian Black Sea" is an act that should have been performed by the Executive Power. It also became clear yesterday that the Executive Power in the form of the Ministry of Regional Development will appeal the decision of the Supreme Administrative Court to reject the Master Plan regarding the municipality of Tzarevo.

The Master Plan foresaw the building up of the entire coast of Strandja Natural Park, with the exception of the few protected territories where construction is strictly prohibited. In other words, the Executive Power stated yesterday that it supports the building up of two thirds of an existing natural park along the Black Sea coast.

The quickest and most efficient way to protect the Bulgarian Black Sea coastline is to urgently declare 19 orders for protected areas, parts of the NATURA 2000 European Environment Network, and based on the Habitats Directive. These orders should have been declared already, but the previous governments postponed the deadline twice.
The protected areas include all wildlife locations along the Black Sea coast and do not depend on their ownership - be it state, municipal or public ownership. The European Commission requires that the administrative units of these areas provide appropriate measures to safeguard the areas and issue orders for their strict management.
Private land and forest owners can be compensated for lost profits due to the abovementioned restrictions through European programs. The orders are drafted and proposed by the Ministry of Environment and Water and are published on the Ministry's website for the duration of one month. After a public discussion has taken place related to each order the Environment Minister issues the order which cannot be appealed at this stage. If publishing of these orders is postponed indefinitely, the European Commission can file a lawsuit against the Republic of Bulgaria.

The proposal for uniting the protected territories and areas, parts of NATURA 2000 European Environment Network, into a single protected territory (natural park or national park) along the Black Sea coastline came as a response to the scandal related to the Nessebar dunes.

However, the coalition "Let the NATURE Remain in Bulgaria" reminds that, in order to create such a large protected territory which would safeguard the most preserved and representative ecosystems along the Black Sea bio-geographical region, the state should first re-establish its ownership over some of the territories which are, by law, state property, but have been illegally privatized or swapped.

Such territories include, but are not limited to, the dunes around Kamchiya, Nessebar, Ropotamo, Koral and territories within the Yaila archeological reserve. Reclaiming these territories could continue indefinitely, thus rendering the whole process meaningless. There are numerous procedures in Bulgaria for establishing new natural parks and other protected territories which have been started but not completed, as required by law.

Ecologists are extremely worried by the continuing practice of making decisions with no public declarations and discussions.

The coalition "Let the NATURE Remain in Bulgaria" warns that instead of inviting civic organizations to any discussions, such discussions are attended by the "gray cardinal" Mihail Mihaylov, the executive director of the National Nature Protection Service department of the MOEW, who is a fierce opponent of the creation of new protected territories and is directly responsible for what is happening in the Rila and Pirin national parks.

Ecologists remind that during the last three weeks, tens of thousands of people have been protesting for politicians to take moral responsibility for their actions, and those politicians should not forget this fact.

According to Bulgarian law, the national parks are protected territories which are exclusive state property. On the other hand, natural parks can include different ownerships - state, municipal, private and church.
Additional information: In January 2013 the coalition "Let the NATURE Remain in Bulgaria" sent six proposals for protecting the Black Sea coastline:
1. The National Assembly should enforce a moratorium on the change of purpose of forest and land resources and a moratorium on the process of issuing building permits in the territories included within NATURA 2000 Network along the Black Sea coastline until an overall development plan of the coastline has been produced.

2. The National Assembly should adopt legislative changes in order to stop the criminal exploitation and destruction of the natural resources along the Black Sea coastline, and in Bulgaria in general:
a) All exemptions for construction over dunes, as stated in the Law on the Black Sea coast Spatial Planning (paragraph. 5) and in
the Law on Spatial Planning, should be removed;
b) The Law on Spatial Planning should be modified to allow civic organizations to appeal Detailed Development Plans and Master Plans, according to the Aarhus Convention, enforced in Bulgaria in 2004. The UN Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee has already declared in 2012 that the Law on Spatial Planning contradicts the convention's requirements;
c) All procedures on acquiring state properties inside the protected territories from NATURA 2000 Network should be terminated according to the Laws on forest and agricultural territories;
d) The state and municipal forests and lands within the protected areas should become public property, similar to such lands and forests within the protected territories.
3. MOEW should issue an order to establish the 19 protected areas along the Black Sea coastline ( "Lake Durankulak", "Lake Shabla-Ezeretz", "Kaliakra Complex", "Valley of river Batova", "Golden Sands", "Galata", "Kamchiya", "Shkorpilovtsi Beach", "Emine-Irakli", "Aheloy-Ravda-Nessebar", "Pomorie", "Lake Atanasovsko", "Lake Burgas", "Mandra-Poda", "Chengene Skele Bay", "Gradina-Zlatna Ribka Beach", "Islands St Ivan and St Peter", "Ropotamo", "Karagaach", "Strandja").
These orders should strictly prohibit any new construction within the territories, which are part of the zone starting 2 km away from the sea coast or which are part of the seashore, with the exception of public infrastructure, mobile objects and construction projects within urban settlements, defined until 01.01.2008.
4. The Parliament should instruct the MOEW, in cooperation with all stakeholders, to define and develop plans regarding the placement of the abovementioned areas under protection in the form of protected territories, issuing the end of April as deadline for assigning commissions to implement those plans. These plans should conform to the individual requirements of the territories and should provide legal frameworks for their adequate protection. The coalition "Let the NATURE Remain in Bulgaria" considers the establishment of Park "Bulgarian Black Sea" (either national or natural) and the establishment of an independent park administration as suitable methods for efficiently safeguarding the abovementioned territories.

5. The Ministry of Agriculture and Food and the Prosecutor's Office should undertake steps, within one month, to terminate all contracts concerning state properties, signed after 01.01.2008, where those properties include dunes.
6. The Ministry of Regional Development should apply the Law on the Black Sea coast Spatial Planning within 3 months by reflecting the dunes and areas A and B within the cadastral maps.
The coalition "Let the NATURE Remain in Bulgaria" recommends that the Council of Ministers reviews the possibility for establishing a specialized and independent state agency, concerned with protecting the environment and safeguarding the forests and responsible for managing and controlling the protected territories, areas and forests and also managing all state properties that lie within.