Over 60% of Bulgarian forests fall within the Natura 2000 network, making protected areas particularly vulnerable, experts point out | Agri.BG
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In 2024, Bulgaria recorded 379 forest fires that burned nearly 60,000 decares of forests. Particularly alarming is that almost 40% of them (23,000 decares) occurred in protected areas of the NATURA 2000 network, according to an analysis by Klimateka. In just one year, 70 separate fires were registered in these valuable zones. The most affected region is the Northwest, but the danger is national and becomes more tangible with each passing year. "2024 was the warning, 2025 will be the catastrophe," says Assoc. Prof. Dr. Momchil Panayotov from the University of Forestry (UF). According to him, the fire in Pirin this summer will likely go down in history as the most massive in recent times. Already in 2024, the natural disaster in Slavyanka destroyed black locust forests – one of the rarest and most valuable species in the country. Similar disasters occurred near Dupnitsa and the Kresna Gorge, where flames burned black pine and oak plantations. "The combination of heat waves, drought, ...