The implementation of 180 initiatives has begun under the “Youth for Environment” Program of the Ministry of Environment and Water, which was announced in June.

The activities were proposed by civil society organizations, community centers, school boards, youth networks, and environmental protection associations country-wide and are to be implemented jointly with the 23 regional structures of the Ministry of Environment and Water - the Regional Inspectorates for Environment and Water, the Directorates of National Parks, the Basin Directorates, and the Environment Executive Agency.

Upcoming initiatives include ones whereby students will teach adults how to reduce their carbon footprint, children will install mini composting plants in schoolyards, educational visits for young people will be organized to treatment plants, separation plants, and municipal waste landfills. Specialists will train young researchers on new models and technologies for climate change monitoring, the banks of the Maritsa river will be surveyed, and tributaries of the Danube and Struma rivers will be cleaned. Local solutions will be sought to the problem of waterlessness in the North-West, young people will help the inhabitants of the most affected areas to apply methods of climate change adaptation.

“The resources of the MOEW regional structures will be used to increase the culture of environmental protection, in parallel with the control activity. With the program, we connect the expertise and ideas of hundreds of civic organizations, community centers, and youth clubs that have experience working with young people. We want to create a basis for cooperation and more joint initiatives between the regional bodies of the MOEW and civil society in the future”, said the Minister of Environment and Water Borislav Sandov, when evaluating the ideas.

“Out-of-the-box thinking, creativity, and the ease with which young people approach challenges are a source of better and practical solutions. The new generation reacts more courageously to changes and the solutions to many of the current challenges require flexibility, creativity and readiness for change,” says Hristo Panchev, adviser on climate policies in the office of Deputy Prime Minister Borislav Sandov and one of the initiators of the program. According to him, any effort to involve more young people in nature conservation activities is beneficial.

The total budget of the initiatives under the program is approximately 850 thousand BGN.

List of activities that will be implemented under the “Youth for Environment” Program