At the same meeting in which UNESCO declared the Italian Dolomites a World Heritage site, they issued an ultimatum to Bulgaria over ski resort development in Pirin National Park.
The Park had been granted World Heritage site status since 1983 but that status has been increasingly and repeatedly challenged following on going ski resort development in the area. UNESCO has held five consultation meetings over Pirin since 2002.
With objections to planned development highlighted by a coalition of 30 Bulgarian environmental groups under the umbrella title, 'For the Nature,' UNESCO have opted to give Bulgaria until February 2020 to either abide by Bulgarian, EC and international laws and stop ski resort development in the national park, or see it added to UNESCO's list of 'World Heritage in Danger.'
The "For the Nature" coalition explains said that it first raised alarm about damage to the national park eight years ago when the construction of the ski zone in Bansko began. It claims that at the start of this year the Bulgarian government asked UNESCO to remove the resort towns of Bansko, Dobrinishte, and Razlog from the boundaries of the Pirin National Park because, the coalition claim, the government was unable to preserve the mountains from developers.
Currently two new ski areas are planned by Dobrinishte and Razlog, despite the fact, the "For the Nature" coalition say, that construction is illegal under the Bulgarian law for Protected Areas as well as the current Plan for Management of the Pirin National Park which remains in force to 2013.
Courtesy of and © Snow24 plc
