State of the Environment Bulgaria 2003
Protected territories
According to the Protected Territories Act of 1988 the protected territories are intended to protect biological diversity, the natural ecosystems and the processes running within them as well as protection of the typical or significant objects of the inanimate nature and landscapes. The categories of protected territories include: national park, natural landmark, supported preserve, natural park and protected area.
Three of the categories – preserve, national park and supported preserve are exclusive state property and the remaining three categories could include also other forms of ownership.
In 2001 only part of the protected natural sites were re-categorized and referred to the new categories protected territories; the rest are still referred to the old categories. As of 31 December 2001, the number of the protected territories is 1695 with a total area of 417,9 ha. distributed among the categories as follows – table 4.
In 2001 14 new protected areas were designated, the size of 1 protected area was changed, 1 national park was re–categorized as a Natural Park and 1 natural landscape was obliterated.
Many of the Bulgarian protected territories have international importance. Two sites (Pirin National Park and the Srebarna biosphere preserve) are acknowledged as sites of the World Natural Heritage as per the Convention for Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage of 1972. Seventeen preserves are registered as biosphere preserves of the program “Man and Biosphere” of UNESCO. Four sites are announced as important wetlands as per the Convention for wetlands with international importance (Ramsar Convention). And another 22 sites are marked by Birdlife International as important ornithological sites in Europe.
In 1992 the Srebarna preserve is included in the list of UNESCO sites “in danger” – with worsening conditions. In the common mission between UNESCO and Ramsar held October 1-4, 2001 improvement of the preserve’s environmental conditions were discovered. In accordance with the report and taking into account the proposal of the mission, Srebarna was excluded from the negative list as of December 2001.
Last update on March 2003