Biodivervity in Bulgaria :: BD monitoring

Biological diversity monitoring plays sufficient role in the process of decision making and undertaking the necessary measures for biodiversity conservation. Thus the international and national legislations include provisions for establishing biodiversity monitoring systems. At the international scale the main document defining the need of establishment of a biological diversity monitoring system at the national level is the Biological Diversity Convention (Chapter 7 and Resolution V/7. COP 6).

The National Biodiversity Monitoring System provides:

- long-term monitoring of the biological diversity in Bulgaria in all its aspects;

- strict compliance with the Bulgarian legislation and enforcement of the international commitments undertaken by Bulgaria ;

- systemization of the data in a format, which is usable by the decision-making individuals and institutions;

- larger publicity and access to information about the biological diversity with the aim to increase the public awareness about its preservation;

- a system, which is adequate to the European standards and trends in the exchange of data in the field of the biological diversity;

- establishment of a long-term stable connection between the science and the management, the lack of which at present brings to taking wrong or inadequate decisions concerning the protection of the biological diversity.

The National System for Environmental Monitoring (NSEM)

The National System for Environmental Monitoring (NSEM) is established and operated in accordance with Article 1, Clause 7 of the Environmental Protection Act (EPA). The system provides timely and reliable information on the elements of the environment and factors affecting it, on which base analyses, assessments and forecasts are performed to support the activities of preserving and protecting the environment from harmful effects. The system is managed by the Minister of Environment and Water through the Executive Environment Agency. ExEA administers the National Automated Syetem for Environmental Monitoring (NASEM) on the whole country, providing material-technical, methodological and software-information resources necessary for its operation and development. All measurements and observations are carried out by the structures of the ExEA in common, unified methods for sampling and analysis in accordance with the procedures ensuring the quality of measurements and data. All ExEA laboratories are accredited under the BS EN ISO/IEC 17025-General requirements for competence in testing and calibration from EA BAS.

ExEA maintains various databases at national and regional level. Databases at national and regional level are structured in components of the environment and using common nomenclatures.

Assessments of the state of environmental components and reporting of the data at national level is carried out by ExEA while the assessments done at regional level – by RIEW, and assessment and reporting of water resources at basin level – by the four Basin Directorates.

The system is organized in accordance with Chapter Eight of the EPA and includes the National monitoring networks for: air, water, land and soils, forests and protected areas, biodiversity, noise and non-ionizing and ionizing radiation. The Control and Information Systems on: emissions from harmful substances in the ambient air, waste water emissions in water bodies, waste information system, earth bowels protection information system are also included in the framework of NASEM.

Inquiries on the monitoring network operation

Inquiries shall be made by components/environmental factors, Regional laboratories/Regional Inspectorates of Environment and Water and River Basin Directorates. They are elaborated on the base of the information received and/or introduced in the National Environmental database of ExEA from NASEM.

Activities of the Executive Environmental Agency

Executive Environmental Agency in Bulgaria is a structure under the Ministry of Environment and Water, which carries out the management of the National System for Environmental Monitoring. The Agency is also in charge of the coordination and management of the National Biodiversity Monitoring System establishment. In this regard two projects have been implemented which are focused on the establishment of the National Biodiversity Monitoring System. These are:

1/ “Framework for development of a national biodiversity and protected areas monitoring system in Bulgaria ", funded by the Bulgarian Ministry of Environment and Water and ended in December 2004.

2/ “Development of a National System for Monitoring Biodiversity and Protected Areas in Bulgaria", funded by the Dutch government.

The website of the Executive Environmental Agency CHM Information Node offers detailed information and documents related to the above mentioned projects, as well as data for the rest of monitoring activities in the country.

Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds: Programme for Common Bird Species Monitoring in Bulgaria

Information about the Common Bird Species Monitoring in the country, conducted by the Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds, a national partner of BirdLife International, is available at a special web site. The objectives and methods of the monitoring, volunteer schemes, and information at European level are described. There are also available data about the number and trends in common bird species populations all over the continent and in the country. Volunteers can download the guidelines and forms for participation in the Common Bird Species Monitoring in Bulgaria.

Contact persons: Svetoslav Spasov svetoslav.spasov@bspb.org; Iordan Hristov iordan.hristov@bspb.org

Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds / BirdLife Bulgaria

tel. + 359 2 971 58 55; fax. + 359 2 971 58 56