The great natural diversity of Bulgaria can be protected, without this being an obstacle to economic development. These are the main objectives of the project "For the Balkan and People," which started in late 2012 and is now entering its final fifth year of implementation. It involves partners from Bulgaria and Switzerland - nine NGOs, as well as a state institution in the face of the Executive Agency for Selection and Reproduction in Animal Breeding at the Ministry of Agriculture and Food. Not surprisingly, this year "For the Balkan and People" won the "Natura 2000“Award of the European Commission in the category of socio-economic benefits in competition with 24 finalists. The project has shown how preservation and wise use of natural resources provides jobs and incomes to farmers and small entrepreneurs. According to Radostina Tsenova from the Biodiversity Foundation, improvement of national legislation is one of the success factors for the project.

"This is a big part of our job. So far we have registered over twenty farmers in the region of western and central Balkan Mountain. They offer their products at various regional events at the markets of major cities. We have a program to support environmentally friendly businesses. Thanks to eight business models have already received financing. One of our first ideas was to invite some of the most enthusiastic participants to take part in a joint trip with our partners from Switzerland. We organised such a tour also for experts from the Bulgarian Agency for Food Safety. It was important to convince them that it is necessary to be more flexible in implementing European policies in order to enable small farmers to cope with high standards that are usually developed for larger farms.”

For the Balkan and People has been developing in western and central Stara Planina. The region is extremely beautiful but faces a number of difficulties such as depopulation and lack of economic perspective. "Young people are our hope. We had a case with a young family who created a farm and already have two shops in Sofia,” Radostina Tsenova says and adds:

"We believe this is one of the ways to create employment is such regions. We organize various trainings in which marketing experts give advice to farmers about their products. Another important part of our work is related to development of civic society and creating future leaders, who in the coming years will make decisions related to nature. Every week in the Biology Faculty of the St. Kliment Ohridski University we hold training on biodiversity protection. Last year we also started work with the Uzana Children's Nature Academy. There we demonstrate an education model for children that relies on games and experiences in nature."

English: Alexander Markov