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ROMANIA AND BULGARIA, PREPARATION OF A JOINT FOREST MANAGEMENT PLAN FOR DOBROGEA FORESTS
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30/01/2006 |
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The project will provide the Romanian and Bulgarian forest authorities with a joint forest management plan for the Dobrogea or Dobrudja region in South-eastern Romania and North-eastern Bulgaria.
The work is conducted within the Phare programme “Promotion of Sustainable Development and Conservation of Biodiversity in Bulgarian-Romanian Cross Border Region”. Grontmij | Carl Bro is the lead firm and provides together with a Bulgarian associate firm, experts in biodiversity conservation, forest and shelterbelts and public awareness.
The aim of the joint forest management plan is to enhance biodiversity conservation in the forests and the forest protected areas, harmonize monitoring of biodiversity, increase of protection against desertification process and other environment degradation as well as optimize the sustainable secondary use of the forest and protected areas, such as ecotourism.
The project area covers the Bulgarian-Romanian cross-border region between the Danube River and the Bulgarian northern Black Sea coast. The region contains some of the last remnants of the steppe and forest-steppe areas in Europe, outside the Russian-Ukrainian steppe region. The main problems facing the area is a desertification process and the reduction of the area of natural forests which has taken place. The remaining forests exist mostly in valleys and contain a high biodiversity hosting even endemic species of flora and fauna. Some of the most important habitats for biodiversity conservation in the region are represented by forests.
The outputs of the project are defined as follows:
- A joint forest management plan for the Romanian/Bulgarian border area
- A joint afforestation/reforestation plan for cross border area
- A joint forest shelterbelts system for the cross border area
- A common biodiversity monitoring system
- An awareness campaign including the preparation of leaflets and other types of materials and the developing a public campaign on forest management and eco-tourism initiatives
The joint forest management plan will take the character of an overall strategy and management framework for the Dobrogea forest areas and will serve as a platform for future actions. Special focus is placed on the guidance of biodiversity conservation in forest protected areas. Additionally, a system of cross-border forest corridors ensuring interconnection of protected areas and other forest area in both countries will be developed.
In order to halt the environmental degradation that has been taken place over the last decades and increase the protection against the processes leading to erosion, soil degradation and desertification the preparation of an afforestation/reforestation plan and the establishment or the improvement of existing forest shelterbelt system play major roles. The shelterbelts and the new forest will furthermore contribute to improvement of the conditions for the wildlife.
The preparation of a framework for the development of eco-tourism activities is included in the management plan. The development of sustainable tourism has two main objectives. The first one is to provide the rural areas in general and the forest areas in particular with alternative income sources. The second objective is to regulate and guide the existing recreational use in a sustainable direction.
With the aim of supporting the conservation efforts and to promote sustainable tourism, an awareness campaign including different kinds of awareness materials is being developed.
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