A new World Wildlife Fund (WWF) report condemns the Bulgarian government’s move to allow what the WWF say will be a 12 fold increase in the size of the Bansko ski area opened up to 48 percent of the park to construction activities, the WWF claim.
The Bulgarian Government allowed expansion of Bansko’s ski area in 2000. Initially it was claimed the development was not on National Park land but over a decade of wrangling it was finally admitted that parts of it was. However, according to reports, rather than declare the construction illegal the Bulgarian government changed rules to make it legal. These are now termed park ‘buffer zones.’
Now the argument has switched to a dramatic expansion of Bansko’s ski area in to one of the largest in Europe in the world, with most of that expansion in the National Park, which is also a UNESCO World Heritage site and home to brown bears, grey wolves and the lesser spotted eagle.
The WWF’s 48 page report entitled “Slippery Slopes: Protecting Pirin from Unsustainable Ski Expansion and Logging,” says that this will mean logging in 60 percent of the national park and what it describes as, “irreversible damage to the World Heritage site based on a questionable business case.”
“Ski development in pursuit of short-term gains has already taken a shocking toll on Pirin,” said Veselina Kavrakova, WWF-Bulgaria country head, who added, “Sustainable economic development can better capture the long-term potential of the park and extend the tourism offering beyond skiing by developing year-round activities to attract more visitors outside the winter months.”
Among the reports claims are that the expansion would take place in some of the most pristine and valuable areas within the park, and would require cutting down old Macedonian and Bosnian pine trees. It is estimated that more than 3,000 hectares of forest would need to be felled to facilitate the planned expansion of ski areas.
The changes to the Pirin National Park’s current management plan to allow the ski resort expansion were reportedly pushed through by Bulgaria’s government on Dec. 28 after WWF and a coalition of NGOs filed a lawsuit against the government’s proposed new management plan. There have since been weekly street protests in more than 20 cities in Bulgaria and at other locations around the world.
