15/08/201320/08/2019
National biodiversity monitoring

Fortis Visio and its partners the Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS) and the National Museum of Natural History at the BAS will implement projects on field surveys of the distribution and number of invertebrates, fish, amphibians and reptiles. The projects are under the DIR 5113024-1-48 project and procedure BG161PO005/11/3.0/03/24 Field studies of species distribution / assessment of the status of species and habitats on the territory of the whole country – Phase I“, financed under Operational Program „Environment 2007 – 2013“. The Contracting Authority is the Executive Environment Agency of the Ministry of Environment and Water and the period of implementation is 30/7/2013 – 1/3/2015.

The activities aim at the development of the National Biodiversity Monitoring System (NBMS) and collecting information on the distribution and number of target species at national level. All the species selected for research are objects of the NBMS.

The field studies cover 130 invertebrates, 52 fish species and 20 amphibians and reptiles. More than 75 experts on invertebrates, ichthyofauna and herpetofauna will be involved in project implementation.

The main activities in every project are as follows:

  • Elaboration of monitoring and assessment methodologies for the target species
  • Modelling the potential habitats of the target species
  • Selection of monitoring sites
  • Field surveys
  • Filling in data in the Information System to the National Biodiversity Monitoring System
  • Assessment of the conservation status of the target species

All the documents elaborated and data obtained will be used for the implementation of the national biodiversity monitoring in the future. The projects results will also be available for the reporting of Bulgaria to the European Commission according to Art. 17 of the Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora (The Habitats Directive).

This document was created within the project „Field studies of species distribution / assessment of the status of species and habitats on the territory of the whole country – phase I“, according to Order RD-23 / 13.01.2012 of the Minister of Environment and Water, co-funded by the European Union through the European Regional Development Fund. The entire responsibility for the content of the publication lies with the Fortis-NMNH-IBER and under no circumstances can it be considered that this document reflects the official opinion of the European Union and the Government of the Republic of Bulgaria represented by the Ministry of Environment and Water.