Bulgarian Enterprise for Management of Environmental Protection Activities – using taxes for conservation

Enterprise for Management of Environmental Protection activities Legal state-owned entity at the Ministry of Environment and Waters with some modification since 2002; Established with the Environment Protection Act; EMEPA collects taxes and fines from 10 Acts – water, soils, garbage, biodiversity, protected areas, noise, chemicals; Main incomes from Water Act – 1 c/m3 water Managed by Steering Council appointed by the Minister;

Incomes 2011 Incomes from water act taxes BGN / euro Incomes from vaste act taxes BGN / euro Incomes from taxes from Protected areas act BGN / euro Other BGN / euro 1 euro = 1,95583 BGN

EMEPA Very important role for state financing nature conservation before EU accession – the only important source for state nature conservation activities Importance significantly reduced after EU accession and the start of OPE – lack of capacity to spend the EU money and budget crisis

Expenditures 2011 Water management BGN/ euro Vaste management BGN / euro Air BGN / euro Biodiversity BGN / euro Public awareness BGN / euro Other BGN / euro 1 euro = 1,95583 BGN

Advantages Sustainable taxes for nature conservation; Good prospects for development – many taxes have potential to be increased and new taxes to be created; Significant potential for increasing expenditures for nature conservation;

Disadvantages Heavily dependent from political decisions Huge level of corruption during some Governments; Used as private fund of the Minister;

Disadvantages Financed eco trails for millions during the Government of 2001 – 2005 Financed projects for water management on prices ten times higher than the average European prices in the period 2005 – 2009; The Minister signed in 2009 contracts for the next four years

Financed activities for biodiversity conservation Majority of the projects for the establishment of the Bulgarian Natura 2000 network The new edition of the Bulgarian Red Date Book Priority activities from the management plans of the Bulgarian National Parks The maintenance of the Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre

Financed activities for biodiversity conservation Investigation for new Black Sea National park - BAS Protection of Sideritis scardica – BAS Information campaigns for CITES and Ramsar convention Devetashkata cave protection – Municipality Lovech Awareness campaigns for Bats and Dolphins Brown Bear monitoring

Art. 12 reporting – BAS and BirdLife Bulgaria

Last trends Sector: Water management Sector: Waste Management Sector: Stopping the biodiversity loss and preservation of natural ecosystems

Sector: Stopping the biodiversity loss and preservation of natural ecosystems Conservation of rare and endangered species; Development of the national ecological network Natura Raising public awareness and awareness of the role and importance of biodiversity for natural processes and people's lives.

Thank you for your attention Stefan Avramov Protected Areas and Species Expert Bulgarian Biodiversity Foundation skype name: stefanavramov mobile: