The Management Strategy for the Bulgarian Part of the Black Sea and its Coastal Lakes

Lyudmil IkonomovExecutive Director,

Institute for Ecological Modernisation

Main problems of the coastal waters and the coastal areas

They are “loaded” with many conflicting functions:

industry‚

transport‚

agriculture‚

fishing‚

recreation,

residency

Major functioanl conflicts in coastal waters and coastal areas

Two clearly conflicting groups of functions: (industry, transport and agriculture) on one hand

and (fishing, recreation and residency) on the other;

These conflicts are related mostly to the use of water area and have a clear impact on it and on the cosest territories.

Main problems of the coastal waters and the coastal areas

The main problems can be classified in three groups:

Technical and economic;

Legal;

Internal - political

Technical and economic problems

Strong investment interest to the water area and the surrounding territories;

Free areas are not “free”, they are emburdened with ambiguity and restrictions;

The whole water area is carrying a heavy environmental load which is hindering recreation, fishing and residence;

The location of the ports in inland waters is causing navigation difficulties;

Sometimes residential areas are separated by inland water transport ways (e.i. a channel crossing the town of Beloslav);

Lack of coherency between main types of masterplans (land-use plans, urban plans, port masterplans)

Legal problems

No legal protection over the investment process at the national level;

No legal protection over the specific market niches of the local production businesses in the Black Sea Basin;

No legal regulations for stimulating the quality of the local products in the Basin Area;

Discrepancies still exist between the Bulgarian Water Act and the EU Water Framework Directive;

Insufficient coherence between the Water Act and other legal regulations on local government.

Internal political problems

No good practices for solving of the regional problems on a municipal level;

No good practices for using binding internal political agreements for long-term regulating of intermunicipal relations.

Location of the waste water treatment plants in the Municipality of Varna

Environmental zoning in view of the phytoplankton concentration [g/m3] of the aquatic system Varna Bay - Lake of Varna

27.76 27.78 27.80 27.82 27.84 27.86 27.88 27.90 27.92 27.94 27.96 27.98

43.16

43.18

43.20

43.22

a17

a16a15

a18a19

a22

a24

a23 a25 a26

a27a28

b3 b6 b9

b2 b5

b1

b7b4 b8

b10

a20

a21

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

20

22

24

26

28

30

32

34

Statement of the Municipality of Varna

Strategic goals of the Bulgarian Black Sea Local Authorities

Work out sustainable solutions for the problems and contradictions related to the watershead basins aiming to improve the investment climate there;

The final goal is to improve the quality of life in the region as a function of the investment proces and the status of the living environment;

The solutions have to be sustainable in terms of time and in financial terms; They have to “work” and be independent on external funding; They have to rely on the funds generated as a result of the economic developmen of the watershead basin itself.

Strategic goals of the Bulgarian Black Sea Local Authorities

The ambition of the coastal municipalities is to initiate the creation of new management tools:

Integrated River Basin Management Plans, Regulatory documents, Supporting institutions,

which will help to improve the investment cliamte in the watershead basin and create good water basin management practices at the local level.

Strategic goals of the Bulgarian Black Sea Local Authorities

It is necessary to create good water area planning and management practices at the local level;

Although, by law, water area master plans should be included in the land-use plans, for a number of reasons, this is still not the case

Strategic goals of the Bulgarian Black Sea Local Authorities There is a clear demand for creating good

practices in river basin management at the local level;

The water basins are practically not managed in our country, although they have been explored quite well.

Strategic goals of the Bulgarian Black Sea Local Authorities

There must be a policy at the national level for developing the environmental parts (or the SEAs) of the land-use plans.

The plans and the SEAs have, for the time being, no link to basic concepts as “carrying capacity of the water area” and “sustainable development”.

The role of the river basins and of the BlackSea River Basin, in particular, must become a leading factor for the economic development of the surrounding territories

Strategic goals of the Bulgarian Black Sea Local Authorities

Obviously, some of these tasks go beyond the limits of local self-government and appear to be a novelty in the national management pracitce

Strategic goals of the Bulgarian Black Sea Local Authorities The only way in which the local authorities can

provide for a general increasing rate of development is to cooperate in preparing their plans and in solving their problems;

The good investment climate is a must for the increasing rate of development of water basin’s territory;

It is the main task of any local authority to provide for such kind of investment climate which will not damage the environment and the environmental resources and will provide for a sustainability of its economic and social development.