Rila Monastery Nature Park Management Plan - part - usaid

February 2004
includes the following administrative units: Sofia City, Sofia, Blagoevgrad,
Kyustendil and Pernik regions, and is centered on Sofia. NPED defines the general
strategy for the country’s development and its national priorities using a ‘from-thetop-down’
planning.
2. The National Plan for Regional Development 2000-2006 5 . This is the other basic
instrument for the development of a comprehensive, long-term mechanism of
regional development, which is expected to strike the right balance between national,
regional and local interests.
NPED comprises national programs for realization, which emphasize, focus upon and
use as their basic planning unit the areas of targeted impact: growth areas,
development areas, areas of trans-boundary cooperation and development, areas of
industrial decline and underdeveloped rural areas, the territorial scope of all of which
is determined by ordinance adopted by Decree # 105 of the Council of Ministers of
June 2, 1999 (SG # 53/11.06.1999). There are two types of areas that can be
distinguished within the Southwestern Planning Region, namely areas of transboundary
cooperation and areas of industrial decline.
3. Plan for strategic development of Rila Municipality for the Period 2000-2006. The
conservation of nature and the environment and the development of tourism are
among the states priorities of this Plan. The planned activities, as well as other local
initiatives, are largely related to the idea of tourism development.
Essentially, the underlying philosophy and the approaches used in planning make it a
process of constant updating and improvement, of setting new goals and, respectively,
priorities to keep abreast of the ever-changing domestic and international
environment. This places the present Management Plan in a favorable position
because:
1) No national or regional projects in an advanced stage of realization (financing,
construction) have been identified that bear upon the territory of RMNP and
could lead to conflicts or contradiction in the planning process;
2) The Management Plan for Rila Monastery Nature Park is the most concrete
document to be applied on a priority basis toward the development of this
territory, in relation to other, more general pieces of legislation. Through the
public hearings, combined with timely and persuasive presentations during
which the Plan is well presented to competent institutions, it would become
possible to stimulate the updating of regional plans along with the goals of
the Management Plans;
3) The activities undertaken in the planing process have yielded greater
knowledge, awareness and a vision of the development of this territory in
conformity with its basic purposes and the provisions of both the Territorial
Development Act and the Protected Areas Act, as well as in the context of
biodiversity and environmental conservation while providing opportunities
for the environmentally sound development of the local economy.
Rila monastery Nature Park
ManaegmentPlan - Draft
2004 - 2013
122