July ‘2011 Smolyan, Bulgaria

The Programme is co-funded by the European Union (ERDF)and National Funds of Greece and Bulgaria

Project : “through pREvention to Project : “through pREvention to Preserve the natural beauty Of the Preserve the natural beauty Of the

Rhodope mounTain”Rhodope mounTain”(REPORT)(REPORT)

Stefka Garova - Technical assistant of the project

The Programme is co-funded by the European Union (ERDF)

and National Funds of Greece and Bulgaria

In this project Regional administration is a Leading Partner and it’s approved by the European Territorial Cooperation Operational Programme Greece-Bulgaria 2007-2013”.

On 14.03.2011 was signed a contract between Ministry of Economy, Competitiveness and Shipping, as the Managing Authority of the Programme and Regional Administration Smolyan, then started the project.

The Programme is co-funded by the European Union (ERDF)

and National Funds of Greece and Bulgaria

The Operative Programme for European Territorial Cooperation Greece-Bulgaria 2007-2013 focuses on strengthening networks and cooperation in the field of border security, management of the natural resources, business and research networks, to find effective solutions for seamless communication through modern infrastructure.

The common strategic object of the Programme is Promotion of the inter-state region by ensuring regional cohesion and by enhancing competitiveness with Specific objectives being the following:  

Enhancement of Attractiveness of the Region through the Upgrade of the Quality of Life;  Improvement of Competiveness through the Promotion of Entrepreneurship, Establishment of Cooperation Networks and Investing in Human Resources.

The project “through pREvention to Preserve the natural beauty Of the Rhodope mounTain” with acronym REPORT is under Priority axis 1: Quality of life; Specific objective 1.1. Protection, Management & Protection of the Environmental Resources under the European Territorial Cooperation Operational Programme Greece-Bulgaria 2007-2013”.

Main objectives of Priority Axis 1 are: to protect and promote the rich and diverse natural resources of the area as a vehicle for balanced and economic development and risk management natural and anthropogenic disasters. Thus, Area of Intervention 1.1 aspires to stimulate joint projects that will aim at preserving the natural resources for future generations, manage environmental resources for present exploitation and future growth and promote them as a means for attracting different forms of investments, always taking into consideration the EU policies regarding environmental protection issues.

The Programme is co-funded by the European Union (ERDF)

and National Funds of Greece and Bulgaria

The main objective of the project is through the successful prevention of forest fires to improve the conservation of significant biodiversity in the cross-border region as part of sustainable management of natural resources in the Smolyan Municipality and Prefecture of Xanthi.

The Programme is co-funded by the European Union (ERDF)

and National Funds of Greece and Bulgaria

The total budget of the approved project is 830.920,40 €, of which 706.282,34 € is ERDF Contribution (European Regional

Development Fund) and National contribution of Bulgaria and Greece is

124.638,06 €.

The Programme is co-funded by the European Union (ERDF)

and National Funds of Greece and Bulgaria

Regional Administration Smolyan is a Leading Partner and Project Partner for the implementation of the project activities is the Region of East Macedonia and Thrace. The project duration is 18 months and the activities will be realized on the territory of Region Smolyan and Region Xanthi.

Project foresees creation and testing of a system for early warning for forest fires and other disasters in the cross-border region; increasing administrative capacity of both sides of the border for joint actions in emergency situation, enhancing knowledge and engagements of local communities about prevention and fighting forest fires.

The Programme is co-funded by the European Union (ERDF)

and National Funds of Greece and Bulgaria

In the long term it will ensure the conservation of biodiversity and reduction of risk for the local population in case of disasters and thus lead to improvement the quality of life and attractiveness of the cross-border region.The concrete activities which will be realized in the following 18 moths are:

Establishment and equipment of situation centre with special software and hardware for acceptance of operational information and creation of comprehensive database. The information will be received from 20 automatic meteorological stations, installed on a network of 20-meter towers of lattice type, located in specific positions on the terrain of the cross-border region. The towers will have apparatus for recording the temperature and wind and infrared cameras to detectoutbreaks of fires in the daytime and night conditions (smoke).

The Programme is co-funded by the European Union (ERDF)

and National Funds of Greece and Bulgaria

The equipment of 8 number firefighting depots with special equipment for fire fighting, GPS – receivers and vehicles for inaccessible terrains.

  Preparation of plan for joint activities for prevention of forest

fire and in case of fires – rules for joint actions to extinguish the fires

  Training of experts for work with the system in the Situation

Centre and training for personnel in operational groups for work with GPS for quickly identify and reach to the fires. The training will finish with demonstrations in Smolyan and Xanthi. For testing the fire warning system it will be realized 2 field experiments.

The Programme is co-funded by the European Union (ERDF)

and National Funds of Greece and Bulgaria

The Publicity of the project will be realized through publications in the local newspapers in Smolyan and Xanthi; informational tables which will determe the degree of fire risk; guidelines for prevention of forest fires and their causes; informational brochures; conferences in Smolyan and Xanthi; web-site.

The Programme is co-funded by the European Union (ERDF)

and National Funds of Greece and Bulgaria

Project Results Created two situational centers - for the Bulgarian and Greek

side; Designed and equipped 8 information centers – 5 on the

Bulgarian side and 3 on Greek side; 20 automatic weather stations located on towers of lattice

type - 15 to 5 for the Bulgarian and Greek side; 8 specialized vehicles - 5 to 3 on the Bulgarian and Greek side; Built hardware and software based system for forest fire

prevention; Implemented communication environment for management

and execution of planning and operational tasks.

The Programme is co-funded by the European Union (ERDF)

and National Funds of Greece and Bulgaria

Examples of automatic weather stations

Basic parameters of the automatic weather station were 1. Sensors: air temperature, humidity, direction and wind speed; 2. Power supply: solar panel + battery; 3. Data Warehousing: Datalogger; 4. Data transmission: wireless technology (GSM); 5. Mast: 20 m. mast of lattice type.

The Programme is co-funded by the European Union (ERDF)

and National Funds of Greece and Bulgaria