Bulgarian National Annual Report on Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) – 2013

Coordinated by Lyudmil Ikonomov, National Focal Point for in the ICZM Advisory Group to the Commission

INTRODIUCTION

The data on the ICZM indicators presented in the spreadsheet reporting format includes information about the 16 municipalities bordering directly the Black Sea or water bodies, connected to it (i.e., the Lakes of Varna and , the Lakes, etc.). These 16 municipalities are located in 3 separate administrative districts, as follows:

 District of : Municipalities of , and ;

 District of Varna: Municipalities of Aksakovo, Varna, , Beloslav, Avren, , Byala.

 District of Burgas: Municipalities of Nessebar, , Burgas, , , .

Boundaries of the Bulgarian Administrative Districts

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The main sources of information used as a basis for this Report are the Regional Statistics Yearbooks for the above districts, published by the National Statistical Institute’s Territorial Bureaus in Dobrich, Varna and Burgas (see the map below). The information on some of the indicators in the report is provided at municipal level, and some - only at district level, due to availability of data in the NSI database, used as a source.

Municipalities bordering the Black Sea and coastal lakes

For the purposes of integrated coastal zone management it might be a better practice to collect the information at the level of the Black Sea River-Basin Region in its boundaries (see the figure below), as defined in its Black Sea River Basin Management Plan, adopted in March 2010. In order to achieve that, other possible information sources should be explored, because the currently used NSI

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reports do not provide data on such level. The data in these reports is based on the administrative units (data at municipal or at district level) and the boundaries of the Black Sea River-Basin Region on the other hand are established on territorial basis (covering parts of administrative districts and parts of municipalities according to the river catchment areas).

Boundaries of the Bulgarian Black Sea Basin

The 2013 Report includes data with relevance up to 2011 (and for some parameters up to 2012) which is the regular time-lag of publishing statistical data by the Bulgarian National Statistical Institute. The statistical information for 2012 and 2013 is still under preparation and will be published respectively in 2014 and 2015.

In order to avoid differences in the reports the data in the columns for previous years (2009 - 2011) was updated using the same sources of information as the data for 2011 - the Statistical District Reviews for the Districts of Dobrich, Varna and Burgas, published in 2012. The data regarding the protected areas (territories) and protected zones (NATURA 2000) was updated according to the online

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register managed by the Executive Environmental Agency. The following official reports have been used:  National Statistical Institute, Territorial Statistics Bureaus in Varna, Dobrich and Burgas, Statistical District Reviews for 2011 of Varna, Dobrich and Burgas Districts, published in 2012 (containing data with relevance up to 2010);  National Statistical Institute, Statistical Yearbook 2012 of Republic of Bulgaria, published in 2013;  Data, published on the Official Natura 2000 web page: http://natura2000bg.org/ ;  Executive Environmental Agency, Register of the Protected Areas and the Protected Zones in Bulgaria (online database): http:// http://pdbase.government.bg/zpo/bg/index.jsp ;  Data, published on the official web page of the Union of the Bulgarian Black Sea Local Authorities (UBBSLA): http://ubbsla.org/en/index.html

Besides the official reports two specialised publications with a focus on the local factors of climate change have also been used:  Celebrating World Water Day on March 22 and World Meteorology Day on 23 March 2012; Press conference: National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology, BAS, Varna Branch., Dr. Ivan Ivanov; Varna, 2012.

The information in this Report (including the data for previous years) is updated, according to the most recent sources available.

The major difficulties in gathering and systemizing the available data are explained in the text bellow.

LEGISLATION

The two main Bulgarian legal acts which regulate the management of the coastal zone are the Bulgarian Law for Spatial Planning of the Black Sea Coast and the Bulgarian Spatial Planning Act. In 2012 some important amendments related to the coastal zone have been adopted, namely, requirements to the municipal spatial and land-use plans to include regulations and conservation measures for the coastal water-area as well.

Another key legal document related with the regulation of the activities in the coastal zone trough measures for integrated water management is the Water Act (Prom. SG. 67/27 Jul 1999). According to the requirements of the Act, the territory (and the aquatic areas) of Bulgaria are divided into river basins as a basic unit for integrated water management, each of them having their own management structure and their own management plan. In 2012 the Water Act was amended with a requirement for the Minister of Environment and Waters to participate in the National Council for Spatial Planning when spatial plans concerning coastal zones, coastal biodiversity and coastal infrastructure will be discussed and approved.

The Water Management Plan for the Black Sea River-Basin Management Region was adopted in 2010 by the Order of the Minister of Environment and Waters (No.РД-294, of 22.03.2010). The Plan is the main inter-sectoral strategic tool for water management in Bulgaria. It includes a set of measures (Programme of Measures) for water protection and restoration, most of which are related to the activities still to be implemented in the coastal zone, thus setting the frame for integrated coastal zone management in Bulgaria.

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In accordance with Directive 2007/60/EC (the “Flood Directive”) and with Chapter 9 of the Bulgarian Water Act 2012 a Preliminary Flood Risk Assessment has been prepared by the Black Sea Basin Directorate. The Preliminary Assessment describes the areas in which significant floods have occurred in the past causing damage to the real property, technical infrastructure and to human health. It contains maps in GIS format of the floods, the rate and direction of flood wave propagation and the duration of the flood events. The Preliminary Flood Risk Assessment is the first stage of the future Flood Risk Management Plan of the Bulgarian Black Sea River Basin.

POPULATION AND GEOGRAPHY

The information in the “Population and Geography” sector is calculated on the basis of data acquired at the municipal level.

Administrative organization of 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 the coastal zone

a) total no. of cities 21 21 21 21 21 21 21

b) no of cities over 2 2 2 2 2 3 2 100 000 inhabitants

c) no of cities over 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1000 000 inhabitants

d) total no of rural 192 192 192 192 192 192 192 settlements

Total inland area of coastal 5951,3 5951,3 5951,3 5951,3 5951,3 5951,3 5951,3 zone (km2)

Estimated territory of Zone A 1144 1144 1144 1144 1144 1144 1144 and Zone B (km2)

Total sea area of coastal zone ~ 109 ~ 109 ~ 109 ~ 109 ~ 109 ~ 109 ~ 109 (km2)

Unfortunately, no Information is available about the population with the requested level of details (neither at municipal, nor at regional level) for the following indicators:  population density in and out of the tourist season  total level of morbidity  average age of population  children under 18  net migration rate

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Population 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Number of population No 721 181 727 430 733 065 N/A N/A 746 923 834 475

Population density in coastal inhabitant/km2 121,18 122,23 123,18 N/A N/A 125,5 140,21 regions

a) out of the touristic season inhabitant/km2 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A

b) in the touristic season inhabitant/km2 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A

Birth rates (persons / thousand) 11,1 11,7 11,486 10,56 10,3 10,51 10,672

Mortality (persons / thousand) 14,5 14,5 14,486 14,38 13,7 14,11 9,455

Morbidity (persons / thousand) N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A

Working people No 253 730 271 360 280 818 288 979 244 236 242 513 139 170

Rate of unemployment No N/A N/A 50 464 52 414 N/A 59 000 70 100

Retired people No 135 350 138 420 136 569 137 204 N/A 139 798 N/A

Average age of population years N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 41,8

Children under 18 years old No N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 126 702

Population growth (natural rate per 1000 - 3,5 - 2,8 -2,7 -3,06 -3,16 -4,14 -4,07 increase, natural decrease) inhabitatnts

Net migration rate % N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 0,169

Urbanization Rate % 72,1 72,1 73,2 73,4 N/A 75,9 75,87

Rural/urban residence ratio (average value, based on the % 72,1:27,9 72,1:27,9 73,2:26,8 74,4:26,6 N/A 75,9:24,1 75,9:24,1 data for the whole Districts of Varna Burgas and Dobrich)

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Where possible a generalised number or similar indicators are provided. Urbanisation Rate is provided as generalized rates based on district and municipal level information.

Land Use 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Total land funds use ha

a) agriculture areas ha 1008384,7 1008384,7 1008384,7 1008384,7 1008384,7 1008384,7 1008384,7

b) forest and other ha 478701,6 478701,6 478701,6 478701,6 478701,6 478701,6 478701,6 forest vegetation lands

c) waters and ponds ha 27735,4 27735,4 27735,4 27735,4 27735,4 27735,4 27735,4

d) wetlands ha N/A N/A N/A N/A 1992,804 1992,804 1992,804

e) beaches (area) ha N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A

General land use change % N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A

The information on land-use was available as per 2000, because the specialised survey took place in that year. The Information is available at district level and includes the whole territory of the three Administrative Districts (Dobrich, Varna and Bourgas).

Social Status 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Unemployment rate % 5,6 3,83 5,57 15,2 N/A 13,47 14,43

BGN Average net monthly 342,42 400,81 477,196 505,25 278,52 376,3 317,33 earnings (1.95583 BGN = 1 EUR)

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ENERGY

The requested information, related to the energy sector was not available in any of the available information sources. None of the central and local authorities issuing permits to wind farms and to other types of power plants producing electricity from renewable sources of energy maintains a publicly available data base of the exact number of wind turbines and solar panels in the coastal area. According to a letter from the Regional Environmental Inspectorate in Varna, in October 2012, in the North-East part of Bulgaria have been installed totally 225 wind turbines but it is not clear how many of them are installed in the coastal municipalities. Very few wind turbines (not more than 20) are reported to have been installed in the area controlled by the Regional Environmental Inspectorate in Bourgas.

WATER AND WASTEWATER

Most of the data was not available at local level but only for the whole administrative districts. In particular, there is no available official and publicly accessible data on the following indicators:  No of localities with public sewage network system  Length of drinking water supply network  Population connected to WWTP (total rural + urban)

Water and Waste Water 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Public sewage network No of N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A system localities

Drinking water supply No of network (almost 100% have N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A localities clean drinking water supply)

Volume of drinking water supplied to consumers m3 N/A N/A N/A 43351111 N/A 45669000 N/A (totally for the 3 Districts)

Population with access to No 99,97% 99,975% 99,975% 99,975% 99,975% 99,975% 99,975% clean drinking water

Length of drinking water km N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A supply network

Population connected to % 73,8% 74,1% 74,3% 75% N/A 75,7% N/A WWTP (total rural+urban)

The information about the general quantities of discharged water is available at district level. It is collected separately by types of treatment (mechanical, biological and untreated waters discharged).

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BIODIVERSITY

Data on Biodiversity is acquired from the following information sources:

 Executive Environmental Agency, Register of the Protected Areas and the Protected Zones in Bulgaria (online database): http://pdbase.government.bg/zpo/bg/index.jsp;

 Data, published on the Official Natura 2000 web site: http://natura2000bg.org/ .

The presented information on the Bulgarian NATURA 2000 zones is related only to the territory of the coastal municipalities bordering the Black Sea and the coastal lakes. Both Directives (on Birds and Habitats) have been taken into account and all on- and off-shore parts of the protected zones have been included in the analysis.

The maps below show the parts of the NATURA 2000 zones which fall within the boundaries of the coastal municipalities. The NATURA 2000 zones are determined in accordance with the Bulgarian National Act for Protection of the Biological Diversity. This Act incorporated the requirements and the regulation of the Bird and Habitat Directives into the national legislation.

Maps of the Bulgarian NATURA 2000 coastal zones under Directive 79/409/EC (Birds Directive) and under Directive 92/43/EC (Habitats Directive)

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The following map shows the territories protected in accordance with the Bulgarian Act for Protected Territories which fall within the boundaries of the coastal municipalities. These territories are much smaller than the NATURA 2000 zones but they are of much higher conservation value, therefore, the Act for Protected Territories provides a higher level of protection compared to the Law for Protection of the Biological Diversity.

Map of protected areas bordering directly the Black Sea or water bodies

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2010 2011 2012 Biodiversity Comments Comments Comments

Green areas (ha) N/A N/A N/A

51 Protected sites; 21 51 Protected sites; 21 51 Protected sites; 21 Natural Monuments; 2 Natural Monuments; 2 Natural Monuments; 2 Number of natural Natural Parks; 6 Natural Parks; 6 Natural Parks; 6 (parks) reserves Reserves and 6 Reserves and 6 Reserves and 6 86 86 86 and their areas Managed Nature Managed Nature Managed Nature (No, ha) Reserves. Total area of Reserves. Total area of Reserves. Total area of all Protected territories - all Protected territories - all Protected territories - 135702,3 Ha 135702,3 Ha 135702,3 Ha

19 protected zones 19 protected zones 19 protected zones under the Birds under the Birds under the Birds Directive: 1) Total area Directive: 1) Total area Directive: 1) Total area (not only in the coastal (not only in the coastal (not only in the coastal municipalities): municipalities): municipalities): 412739.27 ha; 2) Total 412739.27 ha; 2) Total 412739.27 ha; 2) Total inland area: 379892.56 inland area: 379892.56 inland area: 379892.56 ha; 3) Total water area: ha; 3) Total water area: ha; 3) Total water area: Number of Natura 32846.67 ha; 32846.67 ha; 32846.67 ha; 2000 site and their 47 47 47 areas (No, ha) And 28 protected zones And 28 protected zones And 28 protected zones under the Habitat under the Habitat under the Habitat Directive: 1) Total area Directive: 1) Total area Directive: 1) Total area (not only in the coastal (not only in the coastal (not only in the coastal municipalities): municipalities): municipalities): 377983.92 ha; 2) Total 377983.92 ha; 2) Total 377983.92 ha; 2) Total inland area: 316878.8 inland area: 316878.8 inland area: 316878.8 ha; 3) Total water area: ha; 3) Total water area: ha; 3) Total water area: 61105.05 ha; 61105.05 ha; 61105.05 ha;

As parts of the As parts of the As parts of the mentioned above Natura mentioned above Natura mentioned above Natura 2000 protected territories 2000 protected territories 2000 protected territories Number of marine marine only water are is marine only water are is marine only water are is protected sites as follows: as follows: as follows: N/A 1) 61390.5196998163 N/A 1) 61390.5196998163 N/A 1) 61390.5196998163 and their areas ha under the Habitat ha under the Habitat ha under the Habitat (No, ha) Directive; and Directive; and Directive; and 2) 55265.8319349708 2) 55265.8319349708 2) 55265.8319349708 ha under the Birds ha under the Birds ha under the Birds Directive Directive Directive

Data on the “Green areas” was not available. There is no information on any new protected areas having been proclaimed in the coastal area in 2008 – 2012. The source used for the Report for 2013 is the official Register of the Protected Areas and the Protected Zones in Bulgaria which is the most authoritative source of this kind of information.

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COASTAL EROSION

The Statistical yearbooks do not have any information related to coastal erosion. The quoted number (13% of the coastal area) is provided from a specialized report, published in 2005 and does not necessarily reflect the exact current value.

2005 2011 2012 Coastal Erosion Comments Comments Comments

N/A (lanslides and N/A (lanslides and N/A (lanslides and erosion terraces cover erosion terraces cover erosion terraces cover Number of sites about 13% of the about 13% of the about 13% of the vulnerable to N/A coastal line, according N/A coastal line, according N/A coastal line, according erosion (No) to the available to the available to the available geographical geographical geographical information) information) information)

ECONOMY

Data on Regional gross domestic product has not been provided by the Regional Statistical Bureaus in Dobrich, Varna and Bourgas for the years of 2010 and 2012. Data was available at the national level but it wouldn’t reflect correctly the situation in the coastal zone, therefore it was not quoted in the table below.

Economy 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Regional gross *6 003 726 *6 763 279 *7 621 725 *7 802 305 N/A 8 052 862 N/A domestic product (data is available at District level in total Thou. EUR *data for *data for *data for *data for *data for for the Districts of N/A N/A 2005 2006 2007 2009 2011 Varna, Burgas and Dobrich)

13,59 11,26 11,27 10,24 N/A 10,32 N/A % GDP growth change/year *2004-2005 *2005-2006 *2006-2007 *2008-2009 N/A *2009-2011 N/A

Sectoral distribution % N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A of GDP

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TOURISM

The quoted NSI Reports provide information mainly at district level but it is believed that in the Districts of Dobrich, Varna and Bourgas seaside tourism and congress tourism comprise nearly 100% of all types of tourism being practiced in the coastal zone. Information on “Number of touristic arrivals”, “Number of tourist facilities conducting ecological audit”, “Number of Tourist Companies Promoting Green Tourism” is not available.

Tourism 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Touristic accommodation Places / year 182 689 191 425 184 588 182 580 182 580 183 600 204 593 capacities

Touristic accommodation units in No. / year 1 759 1 842 1 576 1 595 1 595 1595 1043 coastal zone

Number of tourist arrivals

a) National No. / year 523 808 579 735 659 469 602 299 N/A 684 329 744 384

b) From abroad No. / year 1 330 107 401 050 1 363 388 1 267 023 N/A 1 434 580 1 688 338

Number of tourist facilities conducting No. N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A ecological audit

Number of Tourist Companies Promoting No. N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A GreenTourism

Number of "Blue Flag" No. 11 10 9 11 11 12 11 Beaches

8 m2/person 8 m2/person 8 m2/person 8 m2/person 8 m2/person 8 m2/person 8 m2/person for marine for marine for marine for marine for marine for marine for marine beaches and beaches and beaches and beaches and beaches and beaches and beaches and Carrying capacity of m2 / person 12 m2/person 12 m2/person 12 m2/person 12 m2/person 12 m2/person 12 m2/person 12 m2/person beaches for beaches for beaches for beaches for beaches for beaches for beaches for beaches larger than larger than larger than larger than larger than larger than larger than 100 000 m2 100 000 m2 100 000 m2 100 000 m2 100 000 m2 100 000 m2 100 000 m2

Number of tourist No. / year 12 333 332 12 292 124 12 152 281 10 035 438 11 218 139 12 352 633 13 897 502 staying overnight

Value of tourist MEUR 329.096 381.813 232.694 210.318 210.302 240.724 279.325 expenditures

Evidently, the annual values of some parameters (like “accommodation units” for instance) indicate a more substantial variation in the last years not only because of the actual changes of the numbers but also due to improving the quality of data collection and due to the refining of the statistical processing techniques.

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HEALTH

As in all previous indicators, the data provided by the NSI for the health care units is given again on a district basis. Information is available only for year 2010.

Health 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

No of sanitary units 32 34 40 41 44 44

SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT

The number of landfills in 2006 was taken from a report named “Assessment on the impacts of landfills”, published Varna, 2006. The data for 2007-2011 was taken from the NSI yearbooks. The NSI statistical yearbooks, however, do not provide information on the number of existing incinerators and their capacity. This information was acquired from the Executive Environmental Agency of the Ministry of Environment and Waters

Solid Waste Management 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Industrial wastes tonnes/year N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A

Hazardous industial tonnes/year N/A 662 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A wastes (estimated value)

Municipal wastes (totally for the Districts of Varna, tonnes/year 550 000 572 000 596 000 508 000 501 000 423 000 N/A Burgas and Dobrich)

Number of landfills (totally for the Districts of Varna, no. 34 33 31 31 30 31 N/A Burgas and Dobrich)

Total capacity of landfills* tonnes/year N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A

Remaining capacity of m3 1 755 011 1 481 055 1 197 883 2 697 715 2 375 764 1 354 562 N/A landfills**

Number of incineration no. N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 24 24 plants

Total capacity of tonnes/year N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A inceneration plants

* The indicator “Total Capacity of Landfills” measured in tonnes/year does not seem very logical because the land filling capacity is usually considered an available free volume, measured in cubic metres;

** Regulation 2150/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council defines the parameter “Capacity of Landfills” [m3] as the remaining capacity (at the end of the data reference year) of the landfill facility to dispose of waste in the future. Therefore, we suggest using the indicator “Remaining Capacity of Landfills” [m3] instead of “Total Capacity of Landfills” [t/year] because it gives a much better idea of the preparedness of the local authority to cope with municipal wastes in the near future;

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Due to changes in the data collection and processing methodology, NSI have made a revision of their data published earlier for the municipal wastes disposed of at landfills for the years of 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007. The table above contains the revised data.

AGRICULTURE

Adequate information on the requested indicators in the “Agriculture” Sector was not available in any of the statistical yearbooks. Information was either at district and regional level only, or outdated. Information on “Total area of agricultural land” is available only for those areas which are in use. Information on the level of application of pesticides and fertilizers is not available. Data on livestock breeding was not available for all three coastal administrative districts.

INDUSTRY

The data provided in the NSI yearbooks was given at a district level only and did not include the numbers of industrial enterprises.

The regional bureaus of NSI have not published their results for 2012, therefore, the industrial output for 2012 has been estimated on the basis of the indices of industrial output for June 2013 given by NSI for the country as a whole. These indices were based on the industrial output of 2010 accepted as 100%.

Industry 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Number of metallurgic enterprises N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A

Thou. BGN Total production of metallurgic enterprises (1.95583 BGN 458 931 423 114 371 497 382 699 325 431 = 1 EUR)

Number of textile enterprises N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A

Total production of textile enterprises Thou. BGN 219 198 222 784 114 548 133 567 115 636

Number of food processing enterprises N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A

Total production of food processing Thou. BGN 701 446 723 346 663 721 698 864 730 425 enterprises

Number of refineries 1 1 1 1 1

Total production of refineries Thou. BGN N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A

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TRANSPORT

The exact information on the requested indicators in the “Transport” Sector was not available in any of the statistical yearbooks. The only information available is about the “Number of harbours” and the “Number of oil terminals”.

Transport 2009 2010 2011 2012

No of airports N/A 6 6 6

Length of rail ways (km) 437 437 437 437

No of harbours N/A 23 23 23

Available information was mainly at district and regional level. The data includes numbers of passengers by types of transports and categories of roads by district.

CLIMATE CHANGE

Data was available only for the levels of precipitation among the requested parameters. Data is available again at the District level however as a generalized number it could as well be applied at local level.

The data received from the Varna Branch of the National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology shows the monthly variations of precipitation and sunshine for 2012:

Climate 2009 2010 2011 2012

Precipitations mm per year 407 753,33 651 568,9

Sunshine hours per year N/A N/A N/A 2655,33

The data from the publication of the National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology (NIMH) which has been referred to in the reference list gives information on the monthly variations of temperature and precipitation for the last 18 years, although the time series for reliable assessment of changes in local climate normally covers a period of no less than 30 years.

The data for the yearly variations of air temperature for the Region of Varna, presented by NIMH, shows that during the last 18 years the annual mean temperatures for some years, and for the period of 1992-2011 as a whole, are higher compared to the ‘climatic norm’ which was 12C for 1961-1990 (the straight pink line). This difference is between 0 C and 1.5 C (see the diagram below) and cannot cause alone significant changes in the amount of precipitation and the hydrological regime of watershed of the Black Sea Basin and in the behaviour of the biodiversity.

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The annual variations of precipitation for the period 1992-2011 are close to or a bit higher than the statistical “norm” for 1961-1990 and reveal some changes from year to year. It is obvious that some years are wetter or drier than others but no symptoms of forthcoming long dry periods have been observed (see the figure below).

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The monthly variations of temperature show that from January till October the temperatures during 1992-2012 have been higher than in 1961-1990. 14 years of the last 20 have higher average annual temperature, which is 12 ° C. Year of 2007 has the highest temperatures. The lowest temperature for the last 20 years was measured on 25 January 2010 -17,8 ° C, and the highest one was measured in the summer of 2004 and 2007 (40 °C) (see the diagram below).

The amount of precipitation over the past year exceeds by more than 100 liters the “climatic norm” but was distributed extremely unevenly. In some of the months there was no rain at all. Even though the year 2011 was considered relatively dry, it was marked by the maximum daily precipitation of 103 mm on 18th October 2011. October was also the wettest month with a maximum monthly amount of 212 mm.

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The change of the frequency and the intensity of the extreme meteorological events appear to be of utmost importance. They have the following impact on the Bulgarian coastal zone:

1) The changes in the variation of precipitation (already registered by NIMH) are causing heavy rains, increased surface run-off and eventually, heavy floods. For the time being in Varna and in Burgas have been registered only small and middle-size floods;

2) The changes of wind direction and speed caused by the changes of temperature are leading to increased intensity and frequency of storm conditions which in their turn will increase the intensity of the coastal beach erosion;

3) The expected rise of water level with 1 cm will lead to loss of the width of the beaches roughly by 1 m.

All these changes are causing indirect impact on biodiversity and human health but the economic consequences are felt first.

In the summer of 2013 several forest fires occurred in the coastal area of the country. Before 2013 forest fires have been occurring every year in many different places in Bulgaria but not in the coastal zone where the high air humidity used to prevent them. The sharpening of climate change and the exceptionally hot temperatures and the lack of rain throughput the whole summer period of 2013 overcame the natural preventive mechanisms and brought forest fires for the first time into the area. This new phenomenon for the coastal zone associated with climate change caused material damage and threatened biodiversity and human health. One of the summer fires which burst in the outskirts of Varna affected directly the houses and the gardens of the people who lived there and caused an extremely complicated and dangerous situation.

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CONCLUSIONS

The data collected and analyzed by the National Statistics Institute and its regional branches follows the administrative structure of the country. As a result most of the publicly available information is provided at national, regional (planning regions) and/or district level and very little data is given at local (municipal) level. On the other hand the Bulgarian Black Sea Coastal Zone is defined (by the Bulgarian Law for Spatial Planning of the Black Sea Coast) as the area enclosed between the beach line and another imaginary line on the shore, lying at a specific distance from the beach. The boundaries of the coastal zone do not coincide with the administrative boundaries or the river basin boundaries. This causes difficulties in analysing the tendencies and planning specific activities oriented at protecting the Black Sea environment.

With respect to the climate change information, there are several specific needs which have to be met:

 There is an obvious need to identify the climate parameters which appear to be a direct results of the Global Climate Change in the Bulgarian Black Sea coastal zone;

 There is a necessity of an adequate description of the results and the primary and secondary impacts of the Global Climate Change;

 There is a need of filling the data gap on sea level rise;

 New phenomena associated with climate change like forest fires occurred for the first time in the coastal zone in 2013;

 The overall condition and the drainage capacity of the coastal systems of rivers, gullies and gulches have to be evaluated in order to assess the risk of flooding and occurrence of secondary disaster effects such as activating land-slides and land-falls in extreme weather conditions;

 Territorial strategies for the coastal zones must be developed for adapting to the conditions of climate change which may include measures like building floodgates on big gulches and gullies, designation of buffer areas for controlled flooding and retention of flood waves, designing new wetlands, etc.

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