World Wetlands Day is celebrated every year on February 2, the day the Wetlands Convention was adopted in 1971 in the Iranian city of Ramsar. The event aims to raise global awareness of the vital role of wetlands for humans and the planet.

Wetlands are areas where water covers the soil or is present in its surface layer all year round or seasonally. These are ecosystems in which the water is the main factor on which the ecological conditions and related animals and plants depend.

Natural wetlands are indispensable habitats for rare animal and plant species and play an extremely important role in the water cycle, as they restore water supplies and nourish groundwater.

Especially valuable is their ability to purify the water passing through them, so in many parts of the world are being built treatment plants that mimic natural swamps. Wetlands also play a very important role in flood protection, absorbing and retaining much of the surface water. They store large amounts of carbon, which makes them extremely important in preventing climate change.

Wetlands are highly sensitive to pollution, changes in watercourses and more. In the twentieth century, many of them worldwide have been dried up or severely altered, and this directly threatens the organisms that rely on them for their survival. At the beginning of the 20th century the wetlands in Bulgaria occupied about 2000 km2 or 2% of the territory of our country, and today their area is only 0.1%.

Each year, the Secretariat of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands identifies the theme of World Wetlands Day. For 2021, it is “Wetlands and Water” and focuses on wetlands as a source of fresh water and promoting action to restore and stopping their loss. The aim is to expand and accelerate initiatives that protect wetlands and all freshwater ecosystems to provide fresh water for all.

Bulgaria is one of the first countries to accede to the Ramsar Convention and currently has 11 sites included in the global list of wetlands known as Ramsar sites.

 

 

One of the most remarkable examples of a well-managed and maintained wetland in Bulgaria is the Ecopark for Biodiversity and Alternative Tourism “Vaya”, part of the Burgas Lake Areas. It is assigned the role of a recreational open space near the city of Burgas, which will help mitigate some of the adverse effects of urbanization and at the same time help restore a healthy self-sustaining ecosystem.

The Ecopark for Biodiversity and Alternative Tourism “Vaya” is located on 700 decares near the Burgas lake Vaya, which was declared in 1997 as “Protected area” VAYA by order of the Ministry of Environment and Water, in 1998 – for KORINE place, due to its European importance for the conservation of rare and endangered bird species, in 2001 – for Wetlands of International Importance under the Ramsar Convention and in 2005 – for Ornithologically Important Area by BirdLife International. In 2007, the Burgas Lake IBA was included in the European ecological network Natura 2000 as a protected area under both the Birds and Habitats Directives.

The presence of wetlands near the sea with an exceptional biodiversity, contributes to the unique image of the city of Burgas as a regional, national and international center in economic, logistical, cultural and social terms.

With the construction of the Ecopark for Biodiversity and Alternative Tourism “Vaya”, the Via Pontica Foundation, which is an NGO coordinator of the Ramsar Convention’s Program on communication, capacity building , education, participation and awareness (CEPA) for Bulgaria, aims to involve people in the protection of birds and nature and to change the attitude towards protected areas by recognizing the opportunities, benefits and responsibilities for the conservation of biodiversity in our country.