Gotse Delchev Municipality

Fauna Assessment and management to safeguard Biodiversity in cross - border mountainous areas of Bulgaria and Greece: Innovative approaches to estimate monitor and protect biodiversity in local ecosystems

Actions for biodiversity in Gotse Delchev region – Gotse Delchev Municipality

Galena Veleva – project coordinator

The Project is co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and by national funds of the countries participating in the INTERREG V-A “Greece-Bulgaria 2014-2020” Cooperation Programme. Fauna Assessment and management to safeguard Biodiversity in cross - border mountainous areas of Bulgaria and Greece: Innovative approaches to estimate monitor and protect biodiversity in local ecosystems

Gotse Delchev municipality – presentation of the region Geographical location - The area of Gotse Delchev is an interesting mosaic of different types of relief - three high mountains - western Rhodopi, southeastern part of Pirin and the northern Slavyanka, the vast Nevrokopi valley and the river Mesta-Nestos.

Plant world - The region of Gotse Delchev has an extremely rich and diverse vegetation with a significant participation of Mediterranean species - there are large areas of forest of over 40 Balkan and Bulgarian endemic plants.

Animal world - the fauna is also characterized by great richness and diversity of species. The most common are wild pig, red deer and roe deer, wolf, jackal and fox. There are also bears, but very few. Wild goats, rabbits and squirrels are very common. There are many species of birds and most of them are protected by law. The larger Pirin and Rhodope rivers, as well as in Mesta, are rich in fish.

Project BIO-INNOVATE Fauna Assessment and management to safeguard Biodiversity in cross - border mountainous areas of Bulgaria and Greece: Innovative approaches to estimate monitor and protect biodiversity in local ecosystems

Gotse Delchev municipality – presentation of the region Protected natural sites and places – Pirin National Park has been declared a park of national and international importance in order to preserve the unique ecosystems in Northern Pirin. It is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. There is also Orelyak Nature Reserve, natural landmarks and 5 protected areas. Pictures - Lake Okoto, grey wolf and yellow tintyava

Participation of Gotse Delchev municipality in the project BIO-INNOVATE

The project envisages several main activities for protection of biodiversity in the region:

❖ Development of environmental educational material ❖ Information campaign in schools ❖ Social Media Campaigns ❖ Creation of Info and educational center in Pirin mountain ❖ Creating content for a smartphone application ❖ Software ❖ Equipment

Environmental educational material

Currently, educational content is being developed for printing a booklet for students up to 7th grade in the field of biodiversity conservation with the main goal of creating bio behavior in children, love of nature, raising awareness about its conservation. The book contains educational material with drawings and animations about biodiversity, color illustrations for different ecosystems in Bulgarian.

The main purpose of the booklet is: ➢ To provide precise information on biodiversity and ecosystems in the region of Gotse Delchev; ➢ To stimulate creation of connections and personal attitude to the natural values of the region in the target group; ➢ To encourage active involvement with aim of nature protection by the target group;

Information campaign in schools

An information campaign will be conducted in local schools to promote the value and benefits of biodiversity conservation. This includes holding three consecutive events in primary schools in Gotse Delchev region with 50 children in each event within 1 day; Lecturer prepares all necessary materials on the topic of conservation and protection of biological diversity and natural resources - lectures, presentations, interactive games, competitions, etc.;

Students will be given hats, T- shirts, cups, pads and pens.

Sufficient publicity will be provided to the campaign through appropriate publications before and after each event;

Social Media Campaigns

For the purposes of the project, a short film of up to four minutes will be shot, reflecting the main objectives of the project - protection of the environment and biodiversity, as well as the achieved results with subtitles of EN / GR / BG.

There will be an online campaign to promote the video created for information purposes. This includes posting it on social media, relevant sites and on the YouTube video sharing channel.

Publish the video in a minimum of 6 different sites in order to reach the maximum number of audiences.

Creation of content for a smartphone application

As part of the project activities, a mobile application will be developed, which should be a hybrid between a role-playing and a computer game. Objects of this game are animals: deer, wild horse, wolf, bear and lynx - big wild cat The app will demonstrate to users the way deer, wild horse, wolf, bear and lynx perceive the environment, simulating their senses, sight and hearing using multimedia and Virtual Reality technologies. In addition, users will be able to see through the eyes of the selected animal and hear through their ears using a technique that simulates the animal's senses. Thus, the application will realistically present the life of the selected species.

Creation of content for a smartphone application

The application will also use a 3D audio mechanism and 3D images of areas from Gotse Delchev on the Bulgarian side and Prosochani on the Greek side. The consumer will make a number of decisions through which his animal will maintain the balance of the local environment.

In this regard, the municipality of Gotse Delchev will create the following: ❖ 10 scenarios representing the behavior of the five species of animals - wild horse, deer, bear, wolf, lynx. Each script includes a story and text; ❖ Development of at least 15 3D-models of the 5 species of animals; ❖ Creation of 360 degree 30 panoramic photos needed for the developed scenarios; ❖ Creation of 20 aerial panoramic photos; ❖ A lot of 3D terrain models - reproduction of the flora and landscape of the desired area.

Creation of Info and educational center in Pirin mountain

Info and education center will be created in existing building in Pirin mountain on altitude of 1400 m. Activities include major repairs to the building, purchase of equipment and furniture and creating content for software to be used in the center. After the major repairs the walls of the Center are planned to be covered with printed illustrations with information related to the environment, graphics, diagrams, photos of places and species. Appropriate furniture of the center will be provided - table, chairs, benches and also various educational equipment: 7 Tablets, 24 Smartphones with hit resistant cases, 2 Touchscreens, 3 Small Footprint PCs, one ultra short focus projector and 20 virtual reality devices.

Creation of Info and educational center in Pirin mountain

Important for the functioning of the center is the development of content for applications - Biodiversity and area study with Quick Response Codes The equipment in the center will allow visitors to use these applications for educational purposes.

Content of the applications: • Animated info-graphics and diagrams that can present scientific information in a more fun way. The user will be able to learn about the size of the populations and the distribution of deer in the Bulgarian territory, by viewing attractive animated diagrams that "come to life" on the screen of the given mobile device.

Creation of Info and educational center in Pirin mountain - Content of the applications ➢ Photos of different locations in the cross-border area related to the scope of the project. On a map printed on the wall, places of outstanding natural beauty are marked. The visitor can scan each of these places and see on the screen of the given mobile device the slide shows with images from the place, including those uploaded by other users like himself. ➢ Video - the map will indicate the places where wild horses live in the Greek part of the project area. The application can read QR-tags in a place and watch a video with a herd of wild horses. Pictures – villages Gaytaninovo and Nova Lovcha, Kremenski lakes

Creation of Info and educational center in Pirin mountain - Content of the applications

➢ Speaker (recorded). It is much more enjoyable to listen to a story than to read the same information alone. Based on this, the prints on the walls will have figures of farmers, environmentalists and veterinarians who would "come to life" when pointing the mobile device at them and tell (in the form of a video or animated character) about a particular topic.

➢ Mini-games. Will be prepared a number of simple games. They will have educational value and content that is related to the conservation of biodiversity and ecological balance.

Creation of Info and educational center in Pirin mountain - Content of the applications

➢ Test tasks. A number of interactive tasks for the visitors will be developed, through which to determine to what extent the visitors of the Center have acquired new knowledge during the visit. Some of them will be designed for smaller visitors. Depending on the answers received, the application should be able to determine the level of awareness of the visitor regarding the environment. The visitor himself can publish his results on social media. With this functionality, the application will promote the Center and its values to a wider audience.

Using the multimedia functionality of mobile devices, the application can access a huge amount of information, transforming the space on the wall into an area for interactive activities.

Project BIO-INNOVATE Thank you!

The views expressed in this presentation do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union, the participating countries and the Managing Authority.