The 'NATURA 2000 in Bulgaria - NEW HORIZONS

The official ceremony for the winners of the ‘Wild Chestnut’ competition for green journalism was held on 5th-7th August at the Leva Hotel in Vratsa. The official event was held on the 6th and all nominees received a certificate of participation and the winners in each category received the special ‘Wild Chestnut’ plaque. Various journalists as well as experts in the field of nature conservation and representatives of various institutions took part in the official event.

Our team joined this year’s edition of the ‘Uzana Polyana Fest – green ideas working’, where the geographical centre of our country – Uzana, was once again a centre of ecological ideas and nature conservation causes.

Our friends at the Zahariy Knyazhevski Regional Library, Stara Zagora invited us on the 25th July to celebrate the World Whale and Dolphin Day. On the 23rd July 1982 the International Whaling Commission voted for a complete ban on commercial whaling for the period 1985-86 and since has been celebrated as the World Whale and Dolphin Day.

Once again we visited our old friends at the Children department at Rodina Library in Stara Zagora to meet the young nature-lovers from 1st to the 4th grades. The event is part of the library’s initiative Magical Library – Summer 2022 starting from 13 June till 31 August, Monday-Friday from 10 till 12:30 AM.

Our team decided to visit the city of Gabrovo not with one but with two different exhibitions of rare species – a photo exhibit and real-life models of protected animals from our fauna greeted all at the Buditeli 2017 Community Centre. We talked about the Natura 2000 network, protected areas within it and the need to save them.

Our team visited the Alfa-Daniel Guest House and Stables in Balkanets village, near Troyan to talk about the Natura 2000 network, protected species and areas in the country. We shared advise what we should do to protect our unique nature and help wildlife. 

Finally it’s time to announce the finalists in our competition for GREEN journalism – Wild Chestnut 2022 in which we aim to award journalist working on the themes of nature, Natura 2000, protected areas and species, in 5 categories.

On the 5th July we visited our friends at the Rodina Library Children Department in Stara Zagora where we met children from 1st to 4th grades to talk about interesting rare species in Bulgaria. The event was part of the Magical Library – Summer 2022 initiative at the library carrying on from 13th June till 31st August, Mon-Fri from 10-12:30 AM.

At the end of last week our team joined the opening of the renovated Stara Zagora zoo. A lot of curious, enthusiastic new visitors came to see the new looks of the local zoo and also learned more about protected species in our country.

Today we took part of the Science and Arts Fair at the Romen Rolan School of Foreign Languages in Stara Zagora along with our feathered ambassadors from the Green Balkans Wildlife Rescue Centre to talk about protected species and what we do to preserve them. 

In this year's national quiz "Natura 2000 and Birds of Prey" the students from the National Professional High School of Forest management "Hristo Botev" – Velingrad have distinguished with exceptional knowledge and it is no coincidence that they are in the first place. 

On 04.06.2022 the Green Balkans team was a guest at the Museum “House of Humour and Satire”, Gabrovo. We celebrated World Environment Day together with the museum team, visitors, and children from different age groups.

Mrs Yovka Tanchovska and her students at 3rd grade invitied us, along with Miroslava Mihaylova from RIEW-Plovdiv to celebrate the World Environment Day under the Only One Earth motto focusing on Sustainable life in harmony with nature. 

On 23 May in the town of Teteven was celebrated the Natura 2000 Day as part of the campaign of the 30th anniversary of the European ecological network Natura 2000. The event was held in cooperation with Teteven Municipality and about 60 students took part in the initiative. 

On May 27 we celebrated the Natura 2000 Day in Pleven, part of our big tour celebrating the 30th anniversary of the network.

“Wild Chestnut” Competition  is organized for a third year in a row and aims to distinquish the high achievements in covering of current issues, related with nature in Bulgaria and its conservation.

Invited by Mr. Georgi Yurukov, teacher of physical education and sport, teams from the projects "Bright Future for the Black Vulture", LIFE14 NAT/BG/649 and "Natura 2000 in Bulgaria - New Horizons" LIFE17 GIE/BG/371 /LIFEforBgNATURA/ visited the primary school "Otets Paisii", Batak.

On 19th May the Green Balkans team celebrated the Natura 2000 Day in Sliven together with more than 180 pupils and their class tutors.

After the success of the Kids 2km run in May, 5kmRUN and the team from the Natura 2000 in Bulgaria - New Horizons project organized a celebration event and marked 30 years since the establishment of the Natura 2000 ecological network with a five-kilometer run at Lauta Park in Plovdiv.