Coordinating and integrating the policies of various administrations, different regions and stakeholders who each have their own interests and priorities, is one of the great challenges for effective ecological restoration policies. This is true at the global level of course, but also at the regional and local levels. The Central Balkans Biosphere Reserve, in Bulgaria, benefited from the UNESCO Earth Network to strengthen the coordination and governance of the 7 administrations managing the area, bringing together all relevant administrations and stakeholders within its territorial perimeter.
A volunteer expert, Mr. Petr Čupa, carried out a series of consultations with farmers, representatives of the tourism sector and livestock associations, to create a coordination council for the management of the Central Balkans Biosphere Reserve .
Following these meetings, a complete overhaul of the governance of the biosphere reserve was decided, with a renewed mechanism including a management council and an advisory council, with an expanded composition to reflect all stakeholder groups, as well as an implementation team, bringing together the variety of actors. actors and environments forming the communities of the biosphere reserve. At the same time, young experts advise the biosphere reserve in its strategy for involving young people by proposing various ideas such as the creation of a “youth council”, based on the model of French biosphere reserves.
