Back in November, we reported on the parlous state of Bulgaria’s protected areas. A big concern was the threats to these sites from dozens of inappropriately sited windfarms. Well, here’s some good news. The Minister of Ecology in Bulgaria has just announced a halt to all new renewable energy projects until a Strategic Environmental Assessment has been carried out to identify the possible environmental impacts of these developments.
For conservationists throughout Europe this decision is very welcome. For years, our partner organisation in Bulgaria, BSBP, has been telling their government that they were not protecting Bulgaria’s most important wildlife sites by failing to follow the correct procedures. The Bulgarian Ministry of Ecology may have woken up late to the legal requirements that are in place to protect the best of Europe’s wildlife – but this decision should mark the start of a new era of properly planned development that avoids damage to Bulgaria’s Natura 2000 network of wildlife sites.
The coastal site of Kaliakra is a case in point as it is threatened by proposals for over 200 turbines exactly in the wrong place – you can read more about this particular case here. Critically, the issue is not about stopping development but about getting the planning right to ensure that renewable energy projects, vital for tackling the climate crisis, avoid damaging Europe’s most important wildlife sites. That message is just as relevant in Bulgaria as it is in the UK.
The existing threats are worrying enough, however, and the RSPB has been very active recently in helping to build political pressure on the European Commission to progress its infringement procedures against the Bulgarian government. We recently asked our letter-writers to write to their local Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) expressing their concern over the Bulgarian sites and asking their representative in Europe to raise the issue with the Commission. If you were one of them, thank you very much (if you want to find out more about how you can add your voice in a very practical way to our campaigns here’s where you can find out more). Over 100 people responded, and so far, six MEPs have tabled Parliamentary Questions asking the Commission to do more, which is a great result.
We’ve also been asking MEPs in the European Parliament to express their concern through the open Petition on Kaliakra. In the last Petitions Committee meeting, five MEPs from across the European Union expressed their alarm at the continuing degradation of this site. This all adds up to a continuing pressure on the European Commission to take action quickly, which should help to continue the much-needed change on the ground we are seeing in Bulgaria.
Already, the Commission have sent a first formal letter to Bulgaria on the systematic failure of that government to protect Natura 2000 sites. We hope that the further site designation and protection infringements opened in 2008 will be taken forward to the next stage in the New Year, so that the Bulgarian government gets a clear message that more needs to be done, and quickly. Hopefully we’ll have more positive news on this in the next few months.