Bulgarian Project Wins Prestigious Award of European Natura 2000

A Bulgarian project is among the awarded at Natura 2000 Awards ceremony held on 17 May in Brussels. The prestigious awards are presented to the most successful projects contributing to the conservation and management of the NATURA 2000 Europe-wide ecological network in five categories.

The project of the Bulgarian Society for Protection of Birds (BSPB) - "Aid for the Egyptian Vulture" won the Natura 2000 Award in the category "Cross-Border Cooperation". BSPB is the coordinating beneficiary of the project, which brings together partners from Greece and the United Kingdom - the Greek Ornithological Society (HOS), WWF Greece and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB).

This is not the first Natura 2000 award for BSPB. In 2016 BSPB participated as a partner in two of the awarded projects. “The Balkan and PeThis is not the first Natura 2000 award for BSPB. In 2016 BSPB participated as a partner in two of the awarded projects. “The Balkan and People” Project won the Natura 2000 Award in the Socio-Economic Benefits category, and the “Safeguarding the Lesser White-fronted Goose along its European Flyways” was awarded in the category of "Cross-Border Cooperation". The project “Conservation of imperial eagle and saker falcon in key Natura 2000 sites in Bulgaria" received the award in the category "Nature Conservation" for 2014.

The winners in the other 5 categories are:

• Conservation Award went to the Partnership to stop the poisoning of imperial eagles, Hungary;
• The Communication Award went to Natura 2000: Connecting people with biodiversityby BirdLife, Spain and EFE Agency;
• The Reconciling Interests/Perception Award went to Co-existing with bears in the 21st century: Difficulties and achievements focused in the district of Kastoria, Greece.
• The Socio-Economic Benefits Award went to LIFE to alvars: restoration and grazing reintroduction for 2500 hectares of Estonian alvar grassland
• The European Citizens’ Award went to the “School of Nature”, Portugal