Coordinating and integrating the policies of various administrations, across different regions and stakeholders that each have their own interests and priorities, is one of the great challenges for effective ecological restoration policies. This is true at the global level of course, but also at the regional and local level. The Central Balkan Biosphere Reserve, in Bulgaria, benefited from the UNESCO Earth Network to strengthen the coordination and governance of all 7 administrations managing the area, bringing together all relevant administrations and stakeholders in its territorial scope.
A volunteer expert, Mr. Petr Čupa, led a series of consultations with farmers, tourism sector representatives and animal breeding associations, to create a Coordination Council for the management of the Central Balkan Biosphere Reserve.
Following these meetings, a complete revamp of the biosphere reserve’s governance was decided, with a renewed mechanism including a management board and an advisory board, with an extended membership to reflect all stakeholder groups, as well as an implementation team, bringing together the variety of actors and backgrounds forming the communities of the biosphere reserve. In parallel, young experts are advising the biosphere reserve on their strategy to involve youth by proposing various ideas such as creation of a “youth council”, using the model of French biosphere reserves.
One of the functions of the World Network of Biosphere Reserves is information and experience exchange. The Earth Network, thanks to UNESCO and Italy, is upgrading this function to a new level.
Summer grazing in the high mountain meadows has been part of the landscape in the Central Balkans Biosphere Reserve for centuries, as it ensured livelihoods for local populations on both sides of the range. Overtime, it has also become one of the essential factors for the formation of the specific high mountain habitats of endemic, rare, threatened, and relict species. Since the early 1990s, there has been a dramatic decline in the traditional practice.
Farmers, including mountain stock breeders, are pivotal stakeholders in inclusive governance mechanisms.
Mission of the Earth Network
Considering that improved management is paramount for successful biodiversity conservation and restoration efforts, the Central Balkan Biosphere Reserve reached out to the Earth Network. This project, which is generously supported by the Government of Italy, matches the challenges of UNESCO-designated sites with the expertise of senior and young scientists.
In this case, the desired expertise included knowledge in territorial management and experience with stakeholder engagement. The Earth Network assigned Petr Čupa (Czechia), who was assisted by Eirini Apazoglou (Greece) and Olivier Courbon (France), particularly in the subjects of youth engagement.
Biosphere reserves are about the interactions of humans in nature. It is also a tool for the creation of partnerships to address topics that are important for the community, with solutions that are agreed among the community, rather than imposed from authorities. However, the creation of these partnerships is not an easy process. It’s very time and resource consuming.
Deputy Director of the Lower Morava Biosphere Reserve and the Lednice-Valtice Cultural Landscape, a World Heritage Site (Czechia), Petr Čupa has served as member of the International Advisory Committee for Biosphere Reserves twice, and was later its Chairperson. During that period, he was assigned to cooperate with biosphere reserves in Serbia, Germany and other countries.
Čupa contributed to the development of the Technical Guidelines for Biosphere Reserves (TGBR) for the Man and the Biosphere (MAB) programme of UNESCO, and has published several works on sustainable tourism, cultural landscape management, among others.
Čupa made three technical visits to Central Balkan, starting in March 2023. During that first trip, he was able to advise the local team on the shortcomings of the governance structure proposed, such as unclear distribution of decision-making and implementation duties, narrow representation of stakeholders and lack of framework for funding.
During Čupa’s third visit in June 2023, which concluded the scientific mission, he was able to hold a large meeting with various stakeholders, including representatives of municipalities. The goal of involving at least one partner from each stakeholder group (business, nature conservation, communities, research, education, culture) was reached.
The local team will be working over the coming months on refining the composition of the different bodies of the Coordinating Council and establishing the implementation team.
This enhanced coordination, stakeholder engagement, and youth support all contribute to preparing the grounds for ecological restoration and ensuring success over the long run.
