Green Balkans’ teams participated in a workshop for eco-organisations and artists hosted by House of Humour and Satire in Gabrovo

28.06.2021

More than 30 representatives of Central Balkan National Park, Nature Park Bulgarka, National Museum of Natural History, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences represented by Asst. Professor Stoyan Lazarov, Bulgarian Biodiversity Foundation, Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds, For the Earth, Greenpeace - Bulgaria, BALKANI Wildlife Society - NGO and Gabrovo Municipality took part along with Bulgarian land art artists.

* Land art is a form of the modern art which is made directly in the landscape, sculpting the land itself into earthworks or making structures in the landscape using natural materials such as rocks or twigs, provoking important questions about relationships between human and environment.

The aim of the workshop was building symbiosis between science and art - to help artists finding answers about nature needed for creating messages about our common cause - conservation of the natural resources of Bulgaria.

Our teams had the opportunity to introduce the Green Balkans work of conservation of rare species and important habitats to all participants. Various work activities of our organization were presented along with our vultures, Lesser Kestrel, cetaceans, bats and other species conservation programs.

The team of Green Balkans’ Wildlife and Rescue Breeding Center familiarized the participants with the medical treatment of the protected species as well as Egyptian Vulture, Lesser Kestrel, Black Vulture and other rare species part of center’s breeding program. Our educational and wide public activities were also presented to the audience.

The represented art works opened new opportunities of nature conservation education and public awareness. Reducing waste messages, how old objects can be transformed into beautiful textile toys or how to show an ecological problem through a modern dance and many others.
During the second day of the event working groups between artists and eco-organizations were created aiming to find a way together to reach more people, representing a problem or just a solution.

We were impressed by the presentation of our hosts - the Gabrovo Municipality and the House of Humour and Satire in Gabrovo by their efforts made for garbage collection.

Together with all participants we visited the Regional Depot for non-hazardous waste - Gabrovo. There we observed in practice how the municipality handles the city's waste - instead of large piles of garbage we found separated, ready for recycling waste: PVC, paper, metal, glass, clothes, construction and furniture. They are redirected to forms that will be reused in production again. From the collected bio-waste the Regional Depot produces compost ready for use.

Representatives of various Green Balkans projects took part:

Better Life for Lesser Kestrel in South-East Balkans LIFE19 NAT/BG/001017 project
Better Life for Lesser Kestrel in South-East Balkans LIFE19 NAT/BG/001017

The Bright Future for Black Vulture LIFE14 NAT/BG/000649 project
Egyptian Vulture New LIFE16 NAT/BG/000874 project
Natura 2000 in Bulgaria - New Horizons LIFE17 GIE/BG/000371 project