ECOTOURISM PROJECT PROMOTES CONSERVATION IN BULGARIA
US Department of State, DC
10 September 2007
International symposium in Turkey promotes environmental best practices
Washington — Adventure seekers, nature lovers and outdoor sports
enthusiasts are finding a new vacation destination. "Ecotourism:
Naturally Bulgaria" is the slogan for a sustainable tourism program
that is promoting Bulgaria as a desirable travel destination and an
attractive investment opportunity.
The U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Biodiversity
Conservation and Economic Growth Project helped Bulgaria capitalize on
its natural resources — mountains, beaches and extensive wilderness
areas — to increase the number of tourists, the spending per
tourist and the percentage of tourism-generated revenue that stayed
in Bulgaria.
Specific objectives included:
~U Regional development and growth of private firms in a competitive
environment;
~U Increased and better-informed citizen participation in policy
development and decisionmaking;
~U Mechanisms to generate and capture revenue for protected areas
and their buffer communities; and
~U Engagement of the public and key target groups near national parks
in decisions on the management of protected areas.
"This project did far more than produce management plans, market
survey and guidebooks. It helped conserve protected areas by helping
local communities value them due to their contribution to tourism,"
USAID’s Roberta Hilbruner told USINFO. "It was all founded on a
threats-based approach to biodiversity conservation, and mitigated
those threats by providing value to the local communities and
alternative livelihoods. … It is a model of a tourism/environment
mix in a project."
USAID credits the program with helping Bulgarians resolve land-use
conflicts, develop laws protecting the environment and create
innovative financing for conservation efforts. The program, which
involved the Bulgarian government, church leaders and private-sector
entrepreneurs, resulted in the creation of a national ecotourism
strategy that served as a model for other nations in the region,
according to USAID.
The agency cited the ability to link efforts of local government,
national government, local businesses and local civil society as
a key element to creating a common set of objectives that could be
supported by all interested parties.
"Sustainable tourism development is about social and political
engineering, as well as enterprise development," Kamelia Georgieva,
Bulgarian ecotourism specialist for the project, confirmed.
BLACK SEA ENVIRONMENTAL SYMPOSIUM
The U.S.-supported program in Bulgaria is one of several regional
successes scheduled to be featured at an environmental symposium hosted
by the Organization for Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) and the
United States. It will bring together representatives of government
and the private sector to discuss how environmental protection could
boost economic development and regional cooperation.
The meeting, scheduled for September 12 and September 13 in
Istanbul, Turkey, will be attended by governmental officials
and business executives and civil-society leaders from BSEC’s 12
members (Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece,
Moldova, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Turkey and Ukraine), the United
States and international organizations such as the European Union,
the U.N. Development Programme and the Black Sea Commission. The
U.S. delegation will be headed by Deputy Assistant Secretary of
State Colleen Graffy, an attorney specializing in international
environmental law.
The United States, which holds observer status in the BSEC,
is supporting the symposium "to foster BSEC’s crucial efforts to
discuss, regional issues, develop cooperative practices, find avenues
of enhancing economic well-being and stability for the people of
this region of great potential," according to the U.S. Embassy in
Istanbul. The Black Sea region is home to approximately 350 million
people.
The symposium is intended to promote closer links among nations in
the region and the exchange of information on environmental best
practices. It seeks to focus attention on ways in which actions to
protect the environment can stimulate economic growth, such as the
promotion of ecotourism and improved fishing and aquaculture.
See also Environment.