300 000 USD granted to 20 Rhodope Projects in Bulgaria. The support is part of the United National Development Programme
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The Second General meeting of all stakeholders was organized by the Rhodope Project representatives in Plovdiv on the 30th of May, Wednesday. The meeting was attended by more than 110 participants. The purpose of the meeting was to officially hand 20 Memoranda for grant funding of local stakeholders in 4 main areas: ecotourism, sustainable forestry, sustainable agriculture and biodiversity conservation. As a result of the desire of the local stakeholders for more on the ground activities aiming at nature conservation, expressed during the First General meeting organized by Rhodope project, the project, with the special support of the United Nations Development Programme and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry prepared and initiated a Programme for Demonstration projects. The Programme started in the end of January this current year. Over 80 project proposals were submitted at the Rhodope project office, of which 20 received financing. The value of the financed project proposals is around 300 000 USD. During the official ceremony, the Memoranda were handed by Ass.Prof. Stefan Yurukov Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Mr. Neil Buhne, Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Programme in Bulgaria and Mr. Alexander Bardarov, Rhodope Project Manager.Rhodope Project has been started in June 2004 and this is its third year of the total 5 planned. Some of the main achievements of the Programme are the first certification of forests in Bulgaria, the introduction of GIS as an instrument for local planning, the pilot monitoring of the biodiversity through volunteers, training of more than 100 people carried out in different areas and etc. The Second General Stakeholder meeting provided the opportunity for the participants to acquaint with the project progress until May 2007, as well as to discuss and express opinion on the activities planned for 2008. |
