- Increase fontDecrease font Text size
Detail of GEF Project #1042
| GEF Project ID | 1042 |
| UNDP PMIS ID | 1966 |
| Funding Source | GEF Trust Fund |
| Project Name | Conservation of Globally Significant Biodiversity in the Landscape of Bulgaria’s Rhodope Mountains |
| Country | Bulgaria |
| Region | Europe and Central Asia |
| Focal Area | Biodiversity |
| Operational Program | 4 |
| Pipeline Entry Date | 2001-05-14 |
| PDF-B Approval Date | 2001-09-24 |
| Approval Date | 2003-05-16 |
| CEO Endorsement Date | 2004-03-01 |
| GEF Agency Approval Date | 2004-05-27 |
| Project Completion Date | 2009-11-30 |
| Project Status | Project Completion |
| GEF Agency | UNDP |
| Executing Agency | Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry |
| Description | GOAL: Globally significant biodiversity is protected by conserving the biological and cultural mosaic of habitats, species and land uses that comprise the Eastern and Western Rhodope landscapes. IMMEDIATE OBJECTIVE 1: Landscape-scale conservation is effectively operationalized in Eastern and Western Rhodope Landscape Nature Parks. (GEF Financed & Co-financed). IMMEDIATE OBJECTIVE 2: Stakeholders integrate biodiversity into resource management and economic development policy and practice. (GEF Financed & Co-financed). The objective of this project is the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity in the Rhodope Mountains of southern Bulgaria. The successful completion of the project will result in stakeholders devising innovative and adaptive practices to mitigate and prevent threats to biological diversity in two new landscape-scale Nature Parks by applying new partnerships, conservation tools, information, and sustainable livelihoods to conserve biological diversity. The Rhodope is an ancient, European cultural landscape where productive uses of forestry and agriculture predominate and protected areas are small and scattered. The application of landscape-scale conservation practices and perspective to the productive landscape as a whole and protected areas’ within it, constitutes the project’s strategic approach to securing the sustainable long-term conservation of biodiversity in these mountains. Bulgarian and international partner co-financing provides the crucial foundation for GEF’s incremental investment by enhancing the sustainability of the existing economic development baseline. GEF funding is requested to support the establishment of two new landscape-scale Nature Parks in the Rhodope, to construct a diversity information baseline by conducting field surveys, to forge new partnerships among local and international stakeholders and to strengthen the capacity of civil society institutions, to catalyze the development of public-private partnerships for habitat management and conservation, and to pilot diversity-friendly tourism and agricultural development practices. |
| Implementation Status | The project completed its 2007 field work with only reports pending finalization. Apart from species (European otter, Egyptian vulture, European souslik, maidenhair fern and 2 tortoises), the focus of the surveys was also set on habitats where among other high conservation value forests were identified on the territory of two forest units (totaling 45,000 ha), as part of their preparation for certification under FSC. Regarding forestry, the project also completed a survey on the integration of biodiversity concerns into forest management plans. The project started looking more thoroughly into achieving after-the-project-end sustainability of both its results and in general terms – sustainability for applied conservation and cross-sector coordination. This was the focus of the discussions with the project supported 28 Municipality Focus Groups and is also evident from the completed surveys: “Conservation financing from national and local perspective” and “Review of incentives that influence the identified threats to ecosystem services”. |
| PDF B Amount | 264,000 USD |
| GEF Project Grant | 3,545,460 USD |
| GEF Grant | 3,809,460 USD |
| Cofinancing Total | 14,888,200 USD |
| Project Cost | 18,697,700 USD |
| GEF Agency Fees | 382,000 USD |
| GEF Project (CEO Endo.) | 3,545,460 USD |
| Cofinancing Total (CEO Endo.) | 14,656,200 USD |
| Project Cost (CEO Endo.) | 18,465,700 USD |
| Project Documents |
Related Links: Country Profile | Project Search