In Galabovo, Deputy Prime Minister for Climate Policy and Minister of Environment and Water Borislav Sandov launched a project with climate change adaptation measures.

“Climate change is here and we need to adapt to it. Extreme weather events are becoming more and more damaging and science is non-equivocal - we will face more floods, droughts, fires. But if we learn to protect ourselves and use solutions based on nature, we can do it - because nature has gone through various cataclysms and managed to evolve. We must do the same,” said Minister Borislav Sandov. He reminded that climate change adaptation is his personal cause. That is why he supports such projects with the idea to start a comprehensive process in Bulgaria, which is based on awareness and leads to development, and not only to damage prevention.

The project “Introduction of measures for climate change adaptation in the municipalities of Galabovo, Gorna Oryahovitsa, and Stambolovo” is aimed at more effective actions to address the effects of climate change, including reducing greenhouse gas emissions and extreme weather events. In Galabovo and Gorna Oryahovitsa, a roof photovoltaic system will be installed on the buildings of the two municipalities. In Stambolovo, afforestation of municipal lands is organized to mitigate and adapt to climate change in the field of biodiversity and ecosystems.

Together with Minister Sandov, the beginning of the project was announced by Kamila Langsholt, Sector Advisor for “Environment” and “Energy” in the Office of the Financial Mechanism of the European Economic Area (EEA FM), and the mayors of Galabovo - Nikolay Kolev and Gorna Oryahovitsa - Dobromir Dobrev.

According to Minister Borislav Sandov, there are now three municipalities, but others will be supported by this mechanism as well: “These municipalities are pioneers who set good examples. The national strategy for adaptation to climate change has remained on paper, as it has not had a clear plan and financial support.

The main goal of the project is to improve the competence of municipal officials in planning measures for climate change mitigation and adaptation. The effectiveness of existing strategic plans and measures by local authorities will be reviewed and evaluated.

Minister Borislav Sandov met with representatives of civil society involved in environmental issues in the region of Dimitrovgrad and Galabovo.

The project is funded by the EEA Environmental Protection and Climate Change Program. The program operator is the MOEW. The value of the grant under the project is 723,308 BGN and the implementation period is 24 months. The beneficiary of the project is the municipality of Galabovo, and the municipalities of Gorna Oryahovitsa and Stambolovo are partners. The budget of the Environmental Protection and Climate Change Program is 15.29 million euros - 13 million euros grant from the EEA FM 2014 - 2021 and 2.29 million euros national co-financing. The program operator is the Directorate for Coordination of European Union Affairs and International Cooperation at the Ministry of Environment and Water and the partner is the Norwegian Environment Agency.