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Description
Over the last years environmental protection and the Green Laws Initiative of the Association for Research Practices have faced a refusal to enter into a dialogue with the institutions despite the proposals for improvements of the policies stemming from our regular monitoring of Rural Areas, Climate, Energy, Biodiversity, Spatial Development and Forests. Despite citizens’ great trust in environmental protection causes, failure to translate them into legislative initiatives has shown that it is necessary to have more attempts at entering into a dialogue between policy-makers and citizens, beyond confrontation in protests. That is why our project plans to focus not on monitoring but on preparing content in order to carry out efficient campaigns to attract citizens for active involvement as well as for live debates with members of political parties who can translate the dialogue with the citizens into real policies. Ten targeted campaigns on environmental protection issues will take place under the project, after the issues have been identified during meetings with citizens in 10 cities. The project will involve professional PR consultants, experts of the organization, 20 volunteers after the meetings with citizens, 5 new trainees of Green Laws and targeted number of 10.000 citizens involved in the activities, one of which is live debates with politicians. It is expected that at least 5 out of the 10 campaigns will lead to specific outcomes, i.e. amended/new legislative acts, solved cases, etc. depending on the topics of the campaigns that will be formulated in the meetings with citizens and regular contribution of the Green Laws experts. The long-term outcome we plan is more active involvement of citizens in a dialogue with politicians, improved understanding of the two groups of one another and real representativeness of political decisions about nature in Bulgaria.
Summary of project results
The aim of the project was to strengthen the dialogue culture between politicians/institutions and citizens regarding environmental legislation and to increase citizen engagement in these topics beyond the ‘usual suspects’ of environmentalists.
The project activities included meetings with citizens across the country, public debates with politicians, development of campaigns on environmental protection topics, and the provision of evidence and expert analyses for the preparation of statements, petitions, and legislative proposals. The project focused its monitoring on five areas - forests, spatial planning, biodiversity, rural areas, energy, and climate.
The ten campaigns in which citizens participated by submitting statements, signing petitions, and protesting reached an estimated 1 million people from the general public. Ten meetings were held with initiative groups on local issues, involving 150 participants. Approximately ten politicians were actively engaged, both in live meetings and by asking parliamentary questions on cases presented to them by "Green Laws" and by introducing legislative proposals (for the Black Sea coast and the Health Law). The project team maintained long-term interactions with representatives from the Ombudsman''s office (on the topics of environmental assessments and appeals to two instances, and on health distance from residences), municipal councilors on the Vitosha case, and expert units of the Ministry of Environment on various cases.
Some of the successes of the initiative worth noting include:
· Campaign against large projects under the EIA procedure: Following the last-minute attempts to amend the Environmental Protection Act (EPA) in the final days of the 49th National Assembly, the proposed changes were surprisingly rejected after numerous public letters, protests, and participation in five parliamentary committees. It is expected that from July 1, 2024, a two-instance procedure will come into force for all environmental assessments under the EPA.
· Renewable energy installations: Although insufficient, a small portion of the proposals to facilitate the installation of renewable energy sources for households and cooperatives were accepted through amendments to the Renewable Energy Act (REA) and other related laws (Energy Act, Spatial Planning Act).
· Restoration of the protected status of the "Kamchiyski Sands" area: This ensured that the largest undeveloped beach in Bulgaria is permanently saved from construction projects.
· Amendments to the Black Sea Coast Development Act: The finally adopted amendments explicitly introduced a ban on damaging dunes, which the initiative had advocated for and which had been previously absent. Additionally, a ban on construction around three beaches (Irakli, Karadere, and Coral) was introduced.
· Stopping construction in Borisova Garden Park: The plan proposing construction in Borisova Garden Park has been halted for the time being, following a strong campaign by Green Laws that gathered protest statements from over 200 citizens.
· Protection of exchanged state forests from construction: The project''s stance to preserve the protection of exchanged state forests from development was adopted by the Constitutional Court, and the legal protection was maintained. In the summer of 2023, Green Laws halted a flawed legislative proposal that would have massively increased the quotas for logging for firewood, which would have been permitted by local mayoral administrations.