State of the Environment Bulgaria 2003
International Cooperation
The priorities of international environmental cooperation follow the priorities in the Government Programme in the Environment Sector and the National Environmental Strategy: cooperation within the framework of international environmental conventions of global and regional importance, enhancement of contracts with donor governments and institutions, further pursuit of cooperation in South-eastern Europe; enlistment, implementation and coordination of international programmes and projects.
Bilateral cooperation with the European Union Member States is very active and focussed on harmonization of national legislation with the acquis communautaire, institutional building in respect of environmental management, practical application of the Community legislation transposed in Bulgaria's national legislation, as well as addressing of priority problems in the practice of environmental protection. Bulgaria has a legal framework for cooperation with Austria, Germany, Greece, Denmark, Italy, Ireland, the Netherlands and Switzerland, through environmental agreements or memorandums signed with them. Active cooperation with Bulgaria's neighbours: Romania, Turkey, Greece, Yugoslavia and Macedonia, is a key priority, for the purpose of preparation and implementation of joint projects, as well as for prevention of transboundary pollution. Bulgaria actively cooperates with the countries of Central and Eastern Europe for the purpose of sharing experience on specific open problems in environmental protection in the course of EU accession negotiations. Apart from the agreements mentioned above, the MoEW has also concluded cooperation agreements and memorandums with the US, China, Romania, Ukraine, Mongolia, the Czech Republic and Poland. With its initiatives and active involvement in bilateral and multilateral activities in South-eastern Europe, Bulgaria continues to re-assert its leading regional position in the sphere of environmental protection. MoEW experts have continued their active participation in the work on the international environmental conventions of regional and global importance, as a result of which Bulgaria has re-established its ground as a country with modern environmental policy and clear priorities in respect of addressing environmental problems on both the national and global scale. Bulgaria is party to the following environmental conventions: the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal, the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer, the UN Convention to Combat Desertification in Those Countries Experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification, Particularly in Africa, the Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent (PIC) Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade, the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs), the Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context, the Convention on Nuclear Safety, the Convention on the Protection of the Black Sea Against Pollution, the Convention on Cooperation for the Protection and Sustainable Use of the River Danube, the Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes, the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, especially as Waterfowl Habitat, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, signed on 16 November 1972 in Paris, France, the Bonn Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals, Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Water birds, the UN Convention on the Conservation of Biological Diversity, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, and the Agreement on the Conservation of Cetaceans of the Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea and Contiguous Atlantic Area (ACCOBAMS).
Last update on March 2003