S O F I A  R E P O R T

Biodiversity in Bulgaria

Biodiversity is listed by The Dobris Assessment, the European Environment Agency's status report on the health of Europe's environment, as one of the 12 gravest problems facing the environment in Europe. Fifty-two percent of Europe's freshwater fish are threatened, according to IUCN figures, compared with four percent the world over. And forty-two percent of Europe's 250 mammals are classified as either "endangered" or "vulnerable," a far cry from the 16 percent that are facing extinction on the other six continents.

The Dobris Assessment's unsettling report card explains why biodiversity was discussed at the Sofia Conference, while issues like transportation and energy were marginalized. At first glance, biodiversity appeared to be the black sheep on the agenda. The other plenary sessions and seminars dealt largely with policy documents, financing environmental protection, and business and environment issues.

How did the conference address the issue? The Sofia Ministerial Declaration, adopted by consensus in the last plenary session, "endorsed" the Pan-European Biological and Landscape Diversity Strategy and "urged" all parties to implement the Convention on Biological Diversity and other relevant conventions. It also "called" for governments and the private sector to come up with innovative financing mechanisms that "actively promote conservation of biological and landscape diversity."

The Pan-European Biological and Landscape Diversity Strategy provides a Europe-wide approach to reducing the threat to biological and landscape diversity, and to reverse the destruction that has already been wrought. The Strategy also hopes to fully involve the public in the conservation of ecosystems and species. The plan calls for the creation and effective management of the Pan-European Ecological Network, the integration of nature conservation and sustainable use objectives into all sectors of society, and the education of the population on the importance of biological and landscape diversity.

THREATENED SPECIES, like these Stone Curlews, have a better chance of survival thanks to the biodiversity strategy endorsed in Sofia.


Though the wording of the Ministerial Declaration is vague, the fact that the issue was on the table at all is a significant improvement. As the numbers show, biological diversity has been under assault in Europe for centuries. Much of the problem can be traced to habitat destruction. Intensive agriculture, accelerated by farming subsidies, has devastated the landscape. The lumber industry has reduced the forests that used to cover 80-90 percent of Europe to a mere 33 percent. Coastlines, marshes and mountains have all been ravaged by unchecked industrialization and irresponsible tourism.

This scenario is frightening. Biodiversity is essential for the survival of both ecosystems and species - including Homo sapiens. Biological diversity allows species to adapt to changing conditions. And because genetic diversity is virtually infinite, it provides an enormous potential for flora and fauna to be used in a number of beneficial ways, like finding cures for cancer and AIDS.

The Sofia Ministerial Declaration also urges countries to develop national biodiversity strategies and programs by the year 1998. Because Central and Eastern Europe still has both large tracks of pristine wilderness and poignant pollution problems, CEE countries would really benefit from the development of such strategies.

Fittingly, the conference host already has such a strategy. Although Bulgaria is relatively small, a varied climate and landscape support a diverse biota that includes 94 species of mammals, 383 birds, and an estimated 27,000 insects. But like the rest of Europe, the loss and degradation of habitats has diminished Bulgaria's biodiversity: 37 plant species, 9 birds, 2 reptiles and 2 large mammal species have already disappeared from Bulgaria's forests, lakes and skies.

Bulgaria's national biodiversity strategy attempts to come to terms with these numbers, and though it cannot erase them, it can work to prevent further loss of species and habitat. The answers are neither easy nor simple; but developing a network of protected areas, developing sustainable resource management practices, improving legislation and investing more resources in environmental education are identified as good first steps.

Of course, all of these recommendations sound great on paper. But if they are not developed and implemented all over Europe, the part of the planet that holds the cure for cancer may just disappear forever. If it hasn't already.

THE BULLETIN * AUTUMN 1995