On the 6-th of August in 2019 in hotel “Marinela” – Sofia city a public hearing of the National Bird Monitoring Concept in Bulgaria was hold.
The concept is elaborated by an international team of the consortium “Dicon-Particip” under the project: “Analyzes and studies of the species and natural habitats in Bulgaria, subject to reporting under Art. 17 of the Habitats Directive and Art. 12 of the Birds Directive”, with Beneficiary the Executive Environment Agency (ExEA), funded by the Operational Programme “Environment 2014 – 2020”.
The workshop was attended by more than 50 experts on ornithology, biodiversity and environment protection from MoEW, ExEA, Biological Faculty at Sofa University, Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (IBER-BAS), Bulgarian foundation “Biodiversity”, Bulgarian Society for the protection of birds (BSPB), Consortium “Ecoconsult Natura 2000”, Executive Forest Agency, Regional Inspectorates of Environment and Water (RIEW), National and Nature Parks Directorates, Black Sea Region Basin Directorate, representatives of the business, nature protection organizations and hunting and fishing associations.
The meeting was opened by Mr. Georgi Balchev, Executive Director of the Executive Environment Agency (ExEA). The main elements of the National Bird Monitoring Concept were presented by the members of the international expert team, participated in its development: Mr. Rastislav Rybanič (Consultant on environment protection, Slovakia) – Team Leader, Mr. Tomaž Mihelič (Ornithologist, Coordinator of the new Atlas for breeding birds in Slovenia, BirdLife Slovenia) – Key expert “Birds”, Dr. Anastasios Dimalexis (Consultant on environment protection, former Director of Environmental Protection at BirdLife Greece) - Key expert “Birds” and Mr. Borut Rubinic (Programme Specialist for the Balkans, Bird Life International) - Key expert “Birds”. The topics presented by the international experts were: “Experience and good practices in monitoring and reporting of birds in EU Member States”, “Results from the review, systematization and the primary analysis of the available data and information for the birds in Bulgaria”, “Review of the available Birds Monitoring Methodologies in Bulgaria. Gap Analysis”, Proposal for a National Bird Monitoring Concept in Bulgaria”.
The workshop continued with a discussion on the presentations, which included representatives of all stakeholders.
As a result of the meeting comments by various stakeholders were provided, that later were reflected in the final version of the document.
The National Birds Monitoring Concept was provided to the Contracting Authority of the project – ExEA.
