We are at the Persina Nature Park Directorate, Belene, Bulgaria, where an idea that has come a long way is now becoming a reality. We are happy to announce that the hard work of so many people is now materializing.
Since the Danube WILDisland Ramsar Regional Initiative was prepared within the LIFE WILDisland project and formally adopted by the Convention on Wetlands as a separate entity in July, we have been really busy with preparation. The proposal for the establihsment of the new RRI suggested setting up a coordination office with a full-time employee as a regional office of the DANUBEPARKS Association in Lower Danube. We set up an internal call for a hosting institution, which was won by the Persina Nature Park, Bulgaria. With all of this behind us and through the kind support of the Convention on Wetlands and the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety an. It turned out that this was not an easy task, but today DANUBEPARKS already has an official trade representation office in Bulgaria, a renovated, equipped and furnished premises (kindly provided by the Persina Nature Park Directorate) and an appointed new office manager, who will be the official coordinator of the RRI for the Lower Danube – Mrs. Anita Cheneshkova.
The new office was visited by Dr. Vlatko Rozac and Matej Marusic from the Sercretariat of the Assosiation mid-December.
This means that DANUBEPARKS already operates with a Headquarters in Upper Danube, hosted by Donau-Auen National Park, Austria, a Secretariat Middle Danube, hosted by Kopacki Rit, Croatia and a regional office in Lower Danube in Bulgaria. Together with Matej Marušić and Doria Bucevic in Croatia, Anita Cheneshkova will develop new funding opportunities, take on the administrative burden, the coordination with national and international institutions - current and future partners of the Association and the WILDisland concept. But most of all - they will be a connecting link between all members of DANUBEPARKS - to support, protect the interests and achieve the main mission and goals of the Association and the RRI: guaranteeing the integrity of the ecosystem, developing our river as a bio corridor, supporting the sustainable management of natural resources, improving management practices of protected areas, raising awareness among the general public and decision-makers about the protection of the Danube River.
The DANUBEPARKS Association expresses its gratitude to EURENI and Ramsar, without whose financial support this could not have become a reality - you help us spread our eagle wings, and we are on our way to the highest peaks!