site.btaWWF Reports Overgrazing of Rila, Pirin and Central Balkan National Parks

A new report by the conservation organisation World Wildlife Fund (WWF) lists subsidized grazing in Bulgaria as an example of an unfavourable activity to nature. The pastoralism in the high parts of the three national parks - Rila, Pirin and Central Balkan mountains has resulted in trampling and overgrazing of grasslands and rare plants, pollution of springs and lakes, the WWF-Bulgaria wrote on Wednesday.

As long as grazing in national parks remains legal, suspending its subsidisation would help reduce pressure on mountain lakes and meadows, the conservation organisation's experts said.

The restriction on grazing in areas at altitudes above 1,500 m will come into force from 2025, it transpired from a joint sitting of the Committee on Agriculture, Food and Forestry and the Committee on Environment and Water in Parliament at the end of February 2024.

EU governments urgently need to bring their public spending in a line with environmental and social requirements, said Tycho Vandermaesen, Director of Policy and Strategy at WWF's European Policy Office in Brussels, quoted by WWF-Bulgaria.