Waiting for the Big Green Weekend 2012 at Pomorie Lake - Bulgaria

The main idea is to take out the invasive plant species from the dunes on the east bank of Pomorie Lake. The work will be hard, but hopefully with very satisfactory results from conservation point of view.

The sand dunes which divide the lake from the Black Sea are a wild habitat protected by the Bulgarian and European environmental legislation. The dunes are a shelter for many rare plants, including such of the Red Data Book of Bulgaria. Some of them are: Centaurea arenaria, Eryngium maritimum, Euphorbia peplis, Trachomitum venetum, etc.

The survival of these species depends on the conservation of the natural conditions on the dunes. Fortunately, the direct anthropogenic pressure here is not serious, but a very invasive species called Amorpha fruticosa is threatening the local biodiversity. The thickets formed by the alien bush do not give much chance for survival of the more vulnerable herbaceous plants typical for the habitat. That’s why the invasive plant must urgently be uprooted from the dunes while the situation is still convertible.

The event is organized with the support of Stavros Niarchos Foundation within a project of the Conservation Volunteers Alliance (CVA). It is an international project, which is being implemented at the same time in a number of European countries – Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, Estonia, Germany, France, Italy, Great Britain and Holland. The main objective of the project is to attract more and more people for nature conservation activities and to highlight the unsung heroes - the volunteers.

“We want to show that in Europe there are many people who are ready to be volunteers for nature conservation. Campaigns as the Big Green Weekend give chance to the increasing number of people who care about wild nature and clean environment to make an active step. Many of us already live consciously, knowing that the care of our beautiful mutual home – Planet Earth is also a direct care of ourselves.”, says Neli Arabadzhieva from Green Balkans NGO – Bulgaira.

For more information: Neli Arabadzhieva, tel.: 0884 25 77 11, narabadzhieva@greenbalkans.org