News and Events
Presentation of Rio Conventions Project Results for the Parliamentary Committee on Environment and Water11.10.2010
On 7 October 2010, the Rio Conventions Project presented its results in front of the Parliamentary Committee on Environment and Water with the Bulgarian National Assembly. The main topics of the presentation were:
• The Training Programme Package (one-day and ten-day courses and Master’s Program Planning and Management of Territorial Systems) developed in cooperation with a team from the Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridsky” for employees from the state administration, municipalities, district administrations and other experts from the regional and district development councils. The main topic of all of the developed trainings is the integration of global environmental issues into the policies and processes of the regional development and spatial structure.
• The Set of Seven Strategic Indicators developed to assess the global environmental impact of the implementation of the development plans and strategies.
• The developed Practical Guidelines and Methodologies for Update and Mid-term Evaluation of the regional development plans and strategies
During the ensuing discussion with the members of the Committee on Environment and Water, Mr. Ognyan Peichev – Deputy Chairperson of the Committee stated that the project has given a good example for "convergence" of regional development and spatial planning policies and also, that he hopes that, through additional modifications of the applicable legislation, the prerequisites for “contradictions” between the basic directions of development of a certain region, district or municipality, preset within the regional development plans and strategies and the detailed spatial plans, would be reduced.
Mrs. Evdokia Maneva, Deputy Minister of Environment and Water, said that the project is a good practice in achieving horizontal integration of issues related to environmental protection in regional development policies as well as regarding the development of the required basic capacity of the MRDPW employees in the filed. Mrs. Maneva also underlined the necessity of amendments of the Territorial Development Act (TDA) and the Regional Development Act (RDA), to ensure also the horizontal integration of environmental themes in the key documents developed in accordance with the requirements of the TDA.
In her closing remarks, Mrs. Iskra Mihailova, Chairperson of the Committee of Environment and Water, proposed to Mrs. Maneva for the selection of a pilot region, included in the Bulgarian Action Plan on the Danube River Strategy of EU, for development of a model for sustainable and environmental-friendly local and territorial development through an appropriate implementation of the three legislative acts, namely TDA, RDA and the Environmental Protection Act (EPA).
Additional Information:
- Presentantion by Mrs. Natalia Dimitrova, Project Manager
- Development of Methodology for Mid-term Evaluation of District Development Strategies, May-September 2010
- Development of Updated Implementation Document for the District Development Strategy of Plovdiv District, March-September 2010
- Ten-Day Trainings in the Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski” for representatives of the MRDPW, MoEW, municipal and district administrations entitled “Integration of Global Environmental Issues into the Processes of Regional Development in Bulgaria”, September 2008 – March 2010
- New Masters Program “Territorial Systems Planning and Management” focusing on the integration of global environmental issues into the regional development and territorial structure policies in Bulgaria with the Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, November 2009
- One-day trainings for representatives of municipal and district administrations entitled “Integration of Global Environmental Issues into the Regional Development Processes in Bulgaria”, January – June 2009
