Stoyan Pasev: Only EU funding will help us protect our coastal areas
Only with EU funding we can protect our coastal areas from landslides and erosion. The amount of money needed for designing and efficient shoreline strengthening is unbearable for the budgets of both the Black Sea municipalities and the state. At present there are 153 active landslides. Their territory is 37 166 decares. This was stated at the opening of an international conference within the project Land-Sea “Sustainability of the land-sea system for eco-tourism strategies” by the Regional governor of Varna Stoyan Pasev.
Within the forum hosted by the Regional Administration Varna, experts from Bulgaria, Italy, Spain and Germany commented on the already applied in our Western European partners most successful models for elimination of landslides and erosion in coastal areas.
The project Land-Sea “Sustainability of the land-sea system for eco-tourism strategies” is the first one that Regional Administration Varna had the chance to implement out of a total of 47 of the same subject whose application forms have been submitted. It amounts to 1 million euros, which will enable us to reach maximum expertise within three years and to prepare a plan to successfully apply for funding - for design and real shorebuilding activities, Stoyan Pasev explained.
Our aim is to prevent the sea from continuing to conquer territories from the coast, and in line with the 21st century, we will gain territories from the sea and create good conditions for tourism and investments, commented the Governor of Varna region. We have already made the first administrative step that will allow us to apply for European funds to tackle shore strengthening problems. Regional administration Varna`s proposal for the creation of Executive Agency "Coastal Zone Management" is already in the Parliamentary Committee on Regional Development, added Stoyan Pasev.
We want each partner to learn something new, to exchange information on good practices in each country, and at the end of the project to have a clear vision of what we need -activities and funding - to tackle the problem of shore strengthening of the compromised coastal zones, said Katerina Prateko, project manager.
