Mammal Survey Eastern Rhodopes Bulgaria - De Zoogdiervereniging

IUCN V category enables almost all kind of economic activity in the Eastern Rhodopes, but encourages nature-friendlyeconomic development as well.Bulgarian Protected Areas Act, the Ministry entrusts the additional investigations needed for the fullpreparation of the proposal to BSPB. In August 2000, BSPB submitted the full proposal for the NaturePark. Two different models were submitted, one for a large park and one for a smaller one, measuring2741 square kilometres and 1926 square kilometres respectively. The public hearing of the NaturePark proposal took place in January 2001. After this step, the continuation of the procedure and thefinal decision are completely in the hands of the Ministry of Environment and Waters. The most problematicaspect of this initiative concerns the geological and mining interests in the region. The Ministryhas made some efforts to solve this problem and to find a way in which the preservation of thenature of the region will be assured without having negative effects to the local economy. At the momentthis report is written, the state of affairs between the ministries concerned with the initiativepoints to a decision to establish the Nature Park by the end of the year 2002. By the time this reportis published, more information about the matter should be available.8.4. The future of the Nature ParkOf course, BSPB and BSBCP will continue their work in the region and their effort to attract externalsupport for their proposal. The Dutch Vereniging voor Zoogdierkunde en Zoogdierbescherming (VZZ)submitted a supporting letter to the Bulgarian Ministry of Environment and Waters. The data collectedby VZZ during the workshop will be used in future planning activities, specifically in drafting the ManagementPlan for the Nature Park. This Management Plan should cover the whole area and shouldcontain all the management measures necessary to ensure the long-term preservation of nature valuesin the area, clarifying the importance of the different areas, the zoning of those areas and the preparationof the needed protection measures. For the precise outlining of the different areas additional researchinto the biological diversity is needed, and BSPB is looking for a way to ensure that. For nowthey have the support of BSBCP, Global Environmental Facilities (GEF) and some other sponsors.50 Mammal Survey Eastern Rhodope Bulgaria