MEDIUM-SIZED PROJECT PROPOSAL 41228 REQUEST FOR GEF FUNDING FINANCING PLAN (US$) GEF PROJECT/COMPONENT AGENCY’S PROJECT ID: P077800 Project 863,100 Public Disclosure Authorized COUNTRY: Bulgaria PDF A 25,000 PROJECT TITLE: Lake Pomorie Conservation, 888,100 Restoration and Sustainable Management Project Sub-Total GEF GEF AGENCY: The World Bank OTHER EXECUTING AGENCY(IES): None CO-FINANCING DURATION: 4 years Green Balkans 154,805 GEF FOCAL AREA: Biodiversity Conservation Pomorie Municipality 846,605 GEF OPERATIONAL PROGRAM: Coastal, Marine and MoEW 48,070 Freashwater Ecosystems (OP 2) Local Stakeholders 22,610 GEF STRATEGIC PRIORITY: Mainstreaming Project Preparation * 46,000 Biodiversity in Productive Landscapes and Sectors, and Sub-Total Co-financing: 1,118,090 Catalyzing Sustainability of Protected Areas Total Project Financing: 2,006,190 ESTIMATED STARTING DATE: August 1, 2004 MPLEMENTING GENCY EE * Project preparation activities supported by Public Disclosure Authorized I A F : US$146,000 other stakeholders. CONTRIBUTION TO KEY INDICATORS OF THE BUSINESS PLAN: Support sustainable protected areas management in 1,000 ha. Mainstreaming biodiversity into tourism and fisheries. Put in place a local- based and innovative institutional arrangement (public-private partnership) for protected areas management, which if successful, could be replicated in other protected sites covering 30,000 ha. RECORD OF ENDORSEMENT ON BEHALF OF THE GOVERNMENT: Ms. Fathme Iliaz, Deputy Minister of Date: 10/11/2001 and 07/07/04 Environment and Waters, National Focal Point Public Disclosure Authorized This proposal has been prepared in accordance with GEF policies and procedures and meets the standards of the GEF Project Review Criteria for a Medium-Sized Project. GEF Executive Coordinator: Project Contact Person Steve Gorman GEF Regional Coordinator: Emilia Battaglini Public Disclosure Authorized Date: 07/01/04 Tel./email: (1-202) 473-3232 [email protected] BULGARIA Lake Pomorie Conservation, Restoration and Sustainable Management Project MEDIUM-SIZED PROJECT BRIEF PROJECT SUMMARY Project Identifiers 1. Project Name::Lake Pomorie Conservation, 2. GEF Implementing Agency: World Bank Restoration and Sustainable Management 3. Country in which the Project is Implemented: 4. Country Eligibility: Convention on Bulgaria Biodiversity, ratified by Government of Bulgaria on 29 February 1996 5. GEF Focal Areas(s): Biodiversity Conservation 6. Operational Program / Short-Term Measure: Operational Program 2 – Coastal, Marine and Freshwater ecosystems 7. Project linkage to national priorities, action plans, and programs: The conservation of Bulgaria’s biodiversity and improving wetlands protection and management is a stated national priority for the government of Bulgaria. The proposed Lake Pomorie Medium-Sized Project’s activities are in conformation with the goals and strategic directions of the following national strategy documents: National Biological Diversity Conservation Strategy, approved in 1998, analyzes threats to Bulgaria’s biological diversity, and states that the key to conserving biological diversity lies in approaches that recognize the value of retaining and restoring diversity at all levels. It emphasizes integrated land, water and biological resource management on both reserved and non-reserved lands through various management schemes and collaborative partnerships. The National Strategy gives special attention to the high conservation value of the Black Sea lakes and lagoons as important sites for migrating birds along the Via Pontica. • National Plan for the Conservation of the Biological Diversity, approved by the Bulgarian Council of Ministers in August 1999, defines Bulgaria’s coastline ecosystems as one of nine priority ecosystems for conservation action. The plan reviews the specific threats to these ecosystems: (a) the need for bird migration corridors along the Black Sea coast, (b) the development and implementation of protected area management plans, and (c) natural resource restoration and maintenance. Under the criteria identified in the National Plan, Pomorie Lake can be classified as a site “highest conservation significance.” • National Action Plan for the Conservation of the Most Important Wetlands in Bulgaria (1995) develops a wetlands strategy consistent with EU directives on habitats and the protection of wild birds. Pomorie Lake and its wetlands is identified as one of two lakes of significant national importance for biodiversity, and identifies the current status and trends of the natural resources at the Project site. • National EcoTourism Strategy and Action Plan (2004) identifies Pomorie Lake and 2 surrounding areas as an area for potential development of eco-tourism focusing on birdwatchers due to its location along the Via Pontica, and promotes the concept of “tourism clusters” which can establish regional centers for tourism – helping individual ecological or cultural heritage sites boost their tourism potential and revenues by working together. The justification for the use of GEF funds to sustain and conserve the biological diversity and ecological integrity of the one of the two remaining coastal hyper-saline lagoon ecosystems in the Black Sea region is detailed in the Project Brief. Apart from global benefits, there are also national and local benefits derived from the project. From the global point of view, together with the Burgas Lakes complex, Lake Pomorie is considered an Important Bird Area (IBA) of global significance. Pomorie Lake and its wetlands is identified as one of two lakes of significantly high biodiversity importance to breeding, wintering and migrating birds along the European’s second flyway, “Via Pontica.” It is estimated that Lake Pomorie provides a haven for at least 70% of the migration birds that passes through the Pomorie/Burgas Lakes bottleneck, and is the first large station for rest and migration for birds after the Danube Delta, thus serving as a critical habitat of key European conservation significance for Central and Eastern Europe and Western Asia. The long term viability of the bird population directly depends on the Lake Pomorie ecosystem, in which they find regular sanctuary along their seasonal migration routes. Lake Pomorie is considered a site of international importance under the Ramsar Convention, but at present there are no arrangements for its formal management and/or protection. Lake Pomorie supports many national and internationally red-listed plant and animal species – some 240 birds have been recorded, including four globally threatened ones (e.g., Halietor pygmeus, Pelecanus crispus, Oxyura leucocephla, and Crex crex), and some that are adapted to the hyper-saline conditions. Of the 100 bird species included in the Red Data Book of Bulgaria, some 65 have been observed in the region of the lake. It is an important stopover site for migratory birds such as waders, cormorants, pelicans, egrets and herons, terns and gulls; and offers suitable conditions for wintering of shellducks, swans, pochards, tufted ducks, coots, etc., and for breeding of several species of plovers, avocets, stilts, and terns. It is one of the two most important nesting areas for Recurvirostra ovesetta, Charadrius alexandrinus, Tadorna tadorna, Gelachelidon nilotica, Sterna albifrons and some other species adapted to hyper-saline waters. One gap in the current system of protected area management in Bulgaria is the absence of locally-based protection and management arrangements. From the national point of view, the Project will assist in piloting implementation of sustainable management of the lake’s natural resources through a multi- stakeholder partnership among an NGO (Green Balkans), the Pomorie Municipality and local cultural heritage sites, and the private sector. Although the Bulgarian Protected Areas Law supports the delegation of management authority of selected protected areas to locally-based management regimes, only 2 out of 146 protected sites are managed locally -- the Kalimok-Brushlen Protected Site managed by a partnership between the local municipalities and central government, and the Poda Protected Site managed by an NGO. This will be the first project that will bring together three partners: NGO, public sector and private sector. It will also be one of the first protected areas administrations that will join together with the administration of a prominent local heritage site (the Pomorie Salt Museum) to form a “tourism cluster” as recommended under the Bulgaria Eco-tourism Strategy and UNESCO, and to implement management plans which are mutually complementary. The experience of Pomorie Protected Site will be carefully documented and disseminated, and if successful, it will be replicated to other “paper” protected sites covering about 30,000 ha. Locally-based management regimes have stronger motivation to manage, maintain and provide security for protected sites than state institutions, which at present are preoccupied with the management of larger protected areas; and have more changes to ensure their financial sustainability than if they depend on state funds. 3 At the local level, several stakeholders derive part of their livelihood from the resources of Pomorie lake through salt production, curative mud extracted from the lake, extraction of biological products for the pharmaceutical industry and fishing. These economic activities depend on an active ecological management of Lake Pomorie and long-term maintenance of the stability of the salinas’ ecosystems. The