site.btaWorld Wide Fund for Nature Starts Campaign to Protect Pirin National Park

World Wide Fund for Nature Starts Campaign to Protect Pirin National Park

Sofia, November 15 (BTA) - The international environmental protection organization, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is starting a campaign to protect Bulgaria's Pirin National Park, said the organization on Tuesday.

The campaign comes in response to a new draft management plan for the Park, which would allow 12.5 times more construction on its land, while 60 per cent of its territory will be made eligible for commercial logging, WWF said.

According to the organization, the form in which the draft management plan is currently proposed does not meet the goal for preserving the National Park, which is wild nature protection.

The draft management plan provides for the construction of two new ski zones and enlarging the existing ones. If it comes into effect, the management plan would violate UNESCO's norms which Bulgaria has committed itself to observing, WWF Bulgaria head Vesselina Kavrakova is quoted as saying in a press release.

Anyone can support the petition by signing it at www.wwf.bg/pirin. The campaign aims to collect 75,000 signatures in support of Pirin, which will be handed to the Prime Minister as soon as possible.