The European meeting of the Ramsar Convention countries was held from 20 to 24 October in the city of Kufstein (Austria). On behalf of Bulgaria in the meeting took part officials of the Ministry of the Environment and Waters, as well as representatives of environmental non-governmental organisations. The main goal of the event was preparation for the forthcoming twelfth world meeting of the Convention countries which is to be held in June 2015 in the city of Punta del Este, Uruguay. In the intensive programme were included a number of topics related to the reasonable usage of the resources which are available by the wetlands, as well as discussions on prepared decisions for the forthcoming meeting of the countries. The following topics were highlighted: a new strategy for widening of the floodplain aimed at reducing the damages by flooding (a topical issue in Austria and the Western Balkans after the heavy flooding during the last summer); the wetlands and agriculture – opportunities for reducing the negative impact; conservation of the peatland and Arctic wetlands; ecosystem services of the wetlands; effective management of the Ramsar areas; the role of ecotourism and visitors’ centres in the popularization and conservation of the wetlands; cultural values related to the wetlands.
At the meeting the new information platform for the Ramsar areas was demonstrated, as well as the results of the project for research of the changes in the Mediterranean wetlands via satellite study. Also two onsite visits were organized in the region of Tirol - the peat-bog “Schwem Walchsee” and the karst area “Wielder Keiser” (Ramsar area).
The programme was supplemented with exposition of posters representing activities aimed at study and conservation of the wetlands and a competition for video clips and movies which popularize the wetlands. Green Balkans Association presented a poster on topic “Rehabilitation of waterfowl habitats in Pomorie Lake”. The participants in the meeting also made familiar with additional print materials for the Pomorie Lake, the Danube River and the international project LIFE10/NAT/IT/256 MC SALT – Ecological management and rehabilitation of Mediterranean salt lands and coastal lagoons. The results on conservation of the Ramsar site “Complex Pomorie wetlands” and other wetlands in Bulgaria achieved by Green Balkans were highly appraised by the experts of whole Europe.
The competition for video clips and movies for popularization of the wetlands was held as an open movie evening. The event was visited by official participants in the Ramsar meeting, as well as by local people from the city of Kufstein and the surroundings. Each spectator received a ballot for voting and after counting of the votes the first three movies were awarded. The movie for the Danube River of the International Committee for preservation of the Danube River was first rated and the third award was given to the movie for the Natural Park “Vransko Lake” in Croatia. The clip “Pomorie – the wild lagoon” was second rated. The production has been made by Lyubomir Hristov under a project of Green Balkans Association and is part of the interactive exposition of the visitors’ centre “Pomorie Lake”.
Recognition for Pomorie Lake at the Eighth European Ramsar Convention Meeting
