Sofia, November 12, 2002 - Today, the Bulgarian Society for Protection of Birds / BirdLife Bulgaria and BALKANI Wildlife Society presented the Bulgarian government their alternative to a highly contested motorway, whose current plans would destroy one of the country's most important natural areas. The alternative was the result of an independent study commissioned by the two organisations, in response to the Bulgarian government's refusal to consider any alternatives outside the gorge. It is now up to the government to review all the alternatives of the proposed infrastructure project.

The government listened to the presentation, and though it did not take any official position, it said would consider the alternative later. "Today's presentation was aimed at gaining governmental support," said Irina Kostadinova from the Bulgarian Society for Protection of the Birds.

"If they don't bother to consider this alternative, they will be responsible for the damage caused to the environment and local communities by the project," added Anelia Stefanova from Za Zemiata / CEE Bankwatch Network Bulgaria, an organisation that has been involved in the Save Kresna Gorge campaign since the beginning.

In their five-year Save Kresna Gorge campaign, the NGOs received support of the gorge's importance for biodiversity protection in several official letters from the European Commission and the European Parliament. Finally in 2000, the Italian company SPEA, which is the project designer, presented two alternatives bypassing the gorge. Unfortunately these were poorly developed and never considered by the Road Executive Agency.

Andrei Kovachev from BALKANI Wildlife Society summed up the problems of the past: "The Road Executive Agency refused to consider the environmental concerns we had been pointing out from the very beginning. The Ministry of the Environment even rejected four Environmental Impact Assessments because there were no decent alternatives."

At the end of May 2002 the Bern Convention conducted a mission to Bulgaria regarding the threat to valuable European species and habitats to be affected by the future highway. The mission concluded that a route through the gorge would have serious negative effects on the region's biodiversity and that an alternative solution was both necessary and possible. Encouraged, the NGOs hired a team of engineers to develop an alternative. The team worked closely with biodiversity specialists and developed two route-options saving the valuable habitats.

The Kresna gorge is a 17-km long site of outstanding biodiversity, recognised officially as one of the seven most important territories of biodiversity protection in Bulgaria. Situated on the border between the continental and Mediterranean climate zones, the gorge includes endemic and rare species protected under the Bern Convention and the EU Habitat and Bird Directives. The gorge is very narrow and vulnerable to any infrastructure development.