For the Balkans and the People
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Issue 08 Project „For the Balkans and the For the Balkans and the people May 2014 people“at Green days 2014 Monthly bulletin for the activities of “Linking nature conservation and rural WWF, MAF and EFA have discussed development” Project, funded by Bulgarian-Swiss Cooperation Programme, drafting of regulation for forest through “Reform Fund linked to Civil Society Participation” ecosystem services In this issue: During the meeting, held in the end of April 2014, FIVE-DAY TRAINNING IN APRILTSI FOR THE Page 1 Five-day training in Apriltsi representatives of WWF–Bulgaria, Ministry of Page 2 Summary of the activities in the issue agriculture and foods (MAF) and Executive forest STAFF RESPONSIBLE FOR NATURE Regulation about forest ecosystem services agency (EFA) discussed the opportunities to draft Page 3 Strategic platform regulation for forest ecosystem services. Deputy Page 4 Green days 2014 CONSERVATION Page 5 Conference with the support of the project Minister of Forestry Dr.eng. Valentina Marinova Second session for probiodiversity businesses said: "It is necessary to develop a regulation, which Page 6 Training for BFSA experts (+ page 7) Page 7 BBF started the nominations for the Annual biodiversity in pursuance of the Forests Act is going to regulate awards ecosystem public benefits from forest areas." The Page 8 Traveling University in Chiprovtsi Minister reaffirmed the MAF readiness to update Page 9 WWF organises training for PES in Vratchanski Balkan Adaptive management is gaining popularity in Bulgaria the cooperation agreement between EFA and Page 10 Contest for T-Shirts design This year farm products from West Balkan were offered WWF, signed in 2010 for the implementation of the Planning of the 3rd year of the project at Green days in Sofia. Cheese, yogurt, jams, and honey Bulgarian-Swiss development program. were presented at the stand of BSPB on this year's fifth Training of the BFSA experts in edition at the Green Festival in front of the Soviet Army In order to improve the partnership between the monument on May 10 to 13. parties, EFA declared willingness to form a working Varshetz group of experts from the agency, MAF, GMP, More on page 4 forest owners and representatives of WWF, to work on the draft regulation. The next step During the period from the 26th to the 30th of May 2014, the Strategic platform of the project discussed by participants in the meeting was Association of Parks in Bulgaria held its second five-day training. It related to the development of a methodology for is part of a series of trainings of the project "For the Balkans and the evaluation of forest ecosystem services. the people” aiming to increase the capacity of staff of frameworks and organizations, responsible for the conservation of nature, Toma Belev and Julia Grigorova, representatives of protected areas and Natura 2000 network. Продължава на стр.2 "For the Balkan and the people," suggested that the working group set a goal to draft the regulation 80 representatives of park administrations in Bulgaria, MAF, RIEWs within 3-4 months. The projectwill be discussed by and NGOs took part in the event in Apriltsi. The program was representatives of MoEW and other interested divided into five working days, with several simultaneously running parties. courses and field work. There were 27 speakers presenting topics related to crimes against forest development, with the principles A total of 70 Bulgarian experts participated in the and logical errors, adaptive management, tourism infrastructure, seminar "Processing in the farm and direct sale of raw collaboration with media, successful communication, the basic milk and dairy products under the requirements of Regulation 26/2010 of MAF" from 23 to 25 April, 2014 rules and procedures for public commissions, biodiversity and other. in Varshetz. Representatives of all 28 Regional On the 2nd of April 2014 the first conference of the Administrations for Food Safety and of two The participants visited National Park Central Balkan. administrations in the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Strategic platform for the project “The Balkan and the people” was held, being an innovative tool for attracting participated. The seminar was organized by BSPB and All presentations from the training can be downloaded from here: Bioselena. different interest groups. http://www.bg-parks.net/main.php?act=arhiv&act1=rez&rec=197 More on page 3 Page 2 More on page 6 THE FIRST CONFERENCE OF THE STRATEGIC PLATFORM O F THE PROJEC T “FOR THE GREEN DAYS – A FESTIVAL OF GREEN IDEAS IN SOFIA BALKANS AND THE PEOPLE The first conference of the Strategic platform for the project “For the Balkans and the people” was held on the 2nd of April. One of the decisions made at the conference was to increase the efforts to improve the legislation initiatives with emphasis on their comprehensiveness, precision and effective implementation. Participants in the conference were both the Bulgarian and the Swiss partners in the project, representatives of the target groups, the Swiss embassy, the National Focal Point for the Council of Ministers, of MEW and MAF. Gerasim Gerasimov from the Swiss embassy welcomed the participants and stressed the uniqueness of this project, which includes elements not only new to Bulgaria, but also new to the EU. He gave an example with the PES schemes and the financial mechanisms for them. According to him the organizing of a Strategic platform is extremely important, because it provides means of communication between all parties and gives a good opportunity to discuss the achieved results and challenges to the program. The coordinator of the project Stoilko Apostolov, presented the results, achieved by now. Julia Grigorova from WWF-DCP, showed in detail with the first component of the Program. Representing the Swiss partners, Markus Luti (REDD) confirmed the opinion that Host at the stand of the project during this year’s Green Days in Sofia is going to be the Bulgarian Society for Protection of the project is extremely successful and that all partners are working hard to reach the previously set goals. For him three aspects Birds (RSPB) – one of the 10 partners in the project “For the Balkans and the people”. At the stand the main activities of RSPB are important for the future development of the project . One of them is financing of the DNA laboratory from the Bulgarian state, and Bioselena for supporting eco-friendly farmers would be presented. Like this there would be better-quality food for which is in compliance with the signed contract. Another one is the key Regulation 26 for direct deliveries, for which instructions everyone and the mountain farmers would be assured a reliable income, supporting nature conservation in areas from the for implementation are currently being developed. And finally the context of the whole project (institutional instability and protected network Natura 2000. frequent replacement of the people taking decisions. On the 10 May at 15:00 RSPB showed 4 short movies in the big tent at “Greed Days”. The topic was “Processing in the farm For two hours the participants of the platform discussed the results of the project for its first 18 months, its obstacles and and direct sales” and they presented past experiences in Italy and Switzerland. In the main tent the society also offered challenges that must be resolved. tasting of farmer’s products from West Balkan. A demonstration of weaving of chiprovski carpets and coloration of threads At the conference 6 suggestions for solutions were made. with natural paint by the children from the school “Petar Parchevich” in Chiprovci was organised at the stand of the project. During the conference six suggestions for solutions were made: 1. All participants agreed on the project’s significance for the On the 11 May at 14:00 the project set up simultaneous events under the same roof: the educational game “Pastures and Bulgarian community and its contribution for a more effective meadows” for kids from 4 to 14, dedicated to the grass habitats and the threats facing them. Bulgarian Foundation implementation of ecological legislation. The project would also Biodiversity organised an entertaining workshop for children, with masks of wild and domesticated animals, representative of facilitate an increase in the incomes of local business farmers. the Balkans – bear, cow, sheep and others. 2. The project is in compliance with other effective programs and financial mechanisms. The stand of the project was visited by hundreds of people from Sofia and elsewhere. They got acquainted with the benefits 3. It was suggested that the efforts for improving the law making of the project and tried and purchased farmer products. Special guests on the third day of the festival were Her Excellency the initiatives be increased for a better comprehensiveness, ambassador of the Swiss Confederation – Mrs. Regina Escher and the Program director of the Swiss embassy – Mr. Gerasim precision and effective implementation. Gerasimov. 4. The parties recommended that the MAF should resolve the problem with the co-financing of the DNA laboratory, as it was stated in the signed documents. 5. The participants suggested that an increase in the promotion and advertising of the project’s activities be reached and emphasized. 6. All parties agreed to the idea of developing a long-term PR- strategy, in relation with the long-term vision of the project. It was concluded that the platform of the project would meet once in a year, or more often when necessary. Page 3 TRAINING OF THE BFSA EXPERTS ON FARM PROCESSING AND DIRECT SALES OF MILK The Conference at Green Days was held with the support AND MILK PRODUCTS UNDER REGULATION of project “For the Balkans and the people” During Green Days on the 9 May in the French Cultural Institute a conference was held with international participation on the topic of “Food 70 experts from all 28 Regional food safety directorates, MAF, foreign experts and NGOs took part in the seminar “Farm processing and nature in Bulgaria in favour of the green sustainable business”.