The Advisory Board ensures the high quality and relevance of project outputs. Its participants are The Bulgarian Ministry of Environment and Water, The Coordinator of the Ramsar regional initiative in the Mediterranean and The Coordinator of the SWOS research project.
Bulgarian Ministry of Environment and Water
The Ministry of Environment and Water in Bulgaria was established in 1990 and its predecessor is the Committee for Protection of Natural Environment at the Council of Ministers from 1976.
The Ministry develops and implements the state environmental policy, as its main aspects are related to: legislative initiative; strategic planning; implementation of sector policies – water, waste, climate, air, nature, soils, noise, radiation; prevention activities – regulatory and control functions; management of programs and projects. At this stage Bulgaria already has developed its ecological legislative framework, entirely adapted to the European.
The structure of the Ministry since 1997 includes: Executive Environment Agency, 4 Basin Directorates, 16 Regional Inspectorates of Environment and Water, 3 National Park Directorates, Enterprise for Management of Environmental Protection Activities, Managing Authority of Operational Program Environment, which administrates the funds for environment in Bulgaria.
Coordinator of the Ramsar regional initiative in the Mediterranean
Established in 1991, the Mediterranean Wetlands Initiative brings together 27 Mediterranean and peri-Mediterranean countries that are Parties to the Convention on Wetlands (Ramsar, 1971). The MedWet mission is to ensure and support the effective conservation of the functions and values of Mediterranean wetlands and the sustainable use of their resources and services.
Since the beginning of the MedWet Initiative, a coordinator, based in Athens, is driving its program of work and exchanges of experiences and know-how. Since 2001, the coordinator is supported by a small secretariat (coordination unit), hosted by Greece from 2001 to 2013 and by France since 2014. The Secretariat facilitates the development of specific wetland projects for beneficiaries and executants in the MedWet countries. It identifies funding opportunities and acts as a facilitator and clearing house for the exchange of news, know-how and expertise in the Mediterranean region. The Coordinator has overall responsibility for the effective functioning of the Secretariat.
Coordinator of the SWOS research project
http://swos-service.eu I http://www.jena-optronik.de
The objective of the project SWOS is to develop a monitoring and information service focusing on wetland ecosystems. It contributes to establishing a Global Wetland Observing System, as requested by Ramsar, it facilitates local and EU monitoring tasks and input into international reporting obligations.
The coordinator of SWOS is the German private for-profit organization Jena-Optronik GmbH, that is one of the leading suppliers for space industry. The company is a market leader for state-of-the-art AOCS and single source for 3D-lidar systems and Rendezvous – and Docking Sensors. Looking back on 40 years of experience in optical precision instruments for space applications, Jena-Optronik is a pioneer in the field of attitude and orbit control sensors for satellites and optical instruments for Earth observation.