Protecting nature is not only about planting trees, clearing canals and caring for animals. Sometimes it means insisting – persistently and consistently – on protection against risks that are outside your control. Lake Burgas (Vaya) is a wetland of international importance under the Ramsar Convention and a Natura 2000 protected site, and one of the largest industrial plants in the country lies in its immediate vicinity.
From the very first years after taking over the site, the team of Ecopark Vaya raised clearly the question of the danger that a possible oil spill would pose to the protected area and its inhabitants. For a place where more than 100,000 waterbirds winter and pass through on migration, even a single accident would have consequences for decades. So we insisted on concrete measures, not promises.
The result came in 2016. LUKOIL Neftochim Burgas AD built an oil-spill protection facility, whose purpose is to contain oil products in the event of an accident and prevent them from reaching the protected waters. The facility was built because of the questions we raised and with our consent, on the property of Ecopark Vaya – at the very place where it can actually protect the lake.
For us this was a decision of principle. Giving up part of your own land for a facility belonging to an industrial company is no small step for an ecopark. But when the goal is the protection of the lake itself, the answer is obvious: it is better to stop the risk at the boundary of the protected area than to hope that an accident never happens.
We are convinced that had Ecopark Vaya not insisted on this, the facility would not exist today. It is one of those victories that are not visible in the everyday life of the ecopark – because they are measured by what did not happen.
This activity did not cost the ecopark money in the usual sense – it cost time, persistence and a willingness to seek dialogue with institutions and companies. It is part of our understanding that whoever cares for a place is also obliged to defend it – including from risks that come from outside.
The lake is here. The birds are here. And sometimes the most important project is the one that prevented something.
Project summary
Project: Oil-spill protection facility by Lake Burgas
Year: 2016
Location: Ecopark Vaya (the ecopark’s property)
Activity: raising the issue of oil-spill risks to the protected area; granting consent and land on the ecopark’s property; contractor of the facility – LUKOIL Neftochim Burgas AD
Funding: the facility was built by LUKOIL Neftochim Burgas AD; the ecopark’s contribution – its own efforts and the land provided
Status: completed
Photo: James Wainscoat / Unsplash