Economic benefits provided by NATURA 2000 discussed in Pomorie

Good practices were presented through local products and services

Pomorie today hosted the forum “A Shared Vision for the NATURA 2000 Ecological Network in the Burgas Region”. This was the first day of an information campaign which, through local products and services, presents to stakeholders the benefits of the Natura 2000 ecological network for local communities, good practices from other countries, as well as the opportunities for European funding.

The event was held under the title “Gifts of the Sea” and was dedicated to salt production from Pomorie Lake and to Pomorie mud and lye. It was attended by landowners and land users, representatives of local structures and organisations, tour operators and travel agents from the region. They visited the Salt Museum in the “Pomorie Lake” protected site, where they learned about the fascinating history of the ancient livelihood of Anchialos – salt production.

The programme continued with a presentation on the protected zones and protected sites in the Burgas region, delivered by Milena Yarmova from the Regional Inspectorate of Environment and Water – Burgas.

A particularly lively discussion was prompted by the report of Yasen Georgiev from the Economic Policy Institute on the opportunities for European funding and good practices regarding the economic and social benefits of NATURA 2000. Many of the landowners in protected zones shared that, in practice, any investment intentions in these territories are restricted, although in principle there are no legal obstacles to this. Most often, the reason things do not happen are the protests of nature conservation organisations and certain omissions in the translation of the European directives into Bulgarian.

Assoc. Prof. Zahariy Dechev from the “Asen Zlatarov” University in Burgas spoke about the application of Pomorie lye and therapeutic mud and their use in balneo, spa and health treatments.

And the Pomorie producer Grudimir Grudev introduced the audience to the wide range of his own products under the ANCHIALO trademark, made from salt and lye. As an example of good practice, the Grand Hotel Pomorie presented its specific programmes for health treatments using Pomorie mud and lye.

In this attractive and engaging way, through local products and services, the stakeholders learned not only about the environmental, but also about the economic and social benefits that Natura 2000 provides. This is precisely the main aim of the project for a shared vision of the ecological network – to raise awareness among local communities in the Burgas region of its environmental, economic and social benefits, while at the same time providing support for achieving a better state of conservation of the species and habitats in the protected zones in the region.

The beneficiary of the project “A Shared Vision for the Natura 2000 Ecological Network in the Burgas Region”, within which the information campaign “Natura 2000 and the Gifts of Nature” is being carried out, is the National Association “Bulgarian Black Sea Coast”. The initiative is funded by the Operational Programme “Environment”, co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund and the Cohesion Fund of the European Union.

According to studies by the European Commission, the benefits arising from Natura 2000 are estimated at between 200 and 300 billion euros per year. In Europe, some 4.4 million jobs and 405 billion euros in annual turnover (based on 2013 data) are directly linked to the maintenance of healthy ecosystems, a significant part of which are located within Natura 2000.

At the same time, production activities in NATURA 2000 zones contribute to maintaining and protecting biological diversity, while organic production is an additional opportunity and development path that can be pursued both within the ecological network and outside it.

Source: http://www.desant.net/