Instead of reforms, the country plans to rehab an irrigation system that can potentially destroy wetlands, and without transparency and public dialogue, the plan cements business-as-usual. With a 30 April deadline for submitting national recovery plans approaching and recent parliamentary elections, the Bulgarian government is failing to propose reforms and measures for biodiversity, sustainable agriculture and low carbon economy. Instead, actions such as rehabilitating state-owned irrigation systems not only contradict national strategies but might damage valuable wetland habitats. A lack of transparency and public dialogue casts a further shadow on the process.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) was created in 1991 at a unique moment in history: after the fall of the Berlin wall, the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the run-up for the Rio Earth Summit on Sustainable Development and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Instead of proposing measures that protect nature, countries plan to spend recovery money on projects that jeopardise the EU’s biodiversity objectives. Countries can still reverse this worrying trend before it’s too late.
In just a few months, a protest against a large dam on the Rioni River has grown from a handful of people in Lechkhumi, western Georgia into a national demonstration. On the International Day of Action for Rivers, 14 March, thousands of Georgians made history with the largest environmental protest in the country’s recent past.
Biodiversity forgotten in the Latvian recovery plan
April 8, 2021 | Read more
There is less than one month left for Member States to submit their national recovery and resilience plans to the European Commission. Yet, the Latvian plan is still far from fulfilling the Commission’s requirements to allocate at least 37% of proposed measures to achieving climate objectives.
The energy sector damages rivers, lakes and other habitats in the countries participating in the Energy Community Treaty, and the Treaty’s current rules are not sufficient to protect them. Our new analysis shows how the EU’s nature and water Directives can be adapted to help address this problem.
