Global Financial Crisis Beneficial for Black Sea Environment / Legal Services in Bulgaria

Global Financial Crisis Beneficial for Black Sea Environment

by Sofia News Agency www.novinite.com

The negative economic consequences of the global financial crisis are in fact going to have positive environmental impact on the Black Sea. This was stated Thursday by Ventsislav Nikolov, the head of Bulgaria's Basin Directorate for Water Management in the Black Sea Region which is based in the city of Varna, as quoted by moreto.net. Nikolov expects that the negative economic impact of the financial crunch would lead to the withdrawal of investors, mostly in the real estate sector, which would reduce the construction of concrete monsters along the Black Sea coast. This in turn will improve the quality of the Black Sea water, and will preserve the remaining virgin flora and fauna on the coast, Nikolov hopes. Recent data of the Basin Directorate shows that the quality of the water of the Black Sea has started to improve slightly. However, this does not apply to the massively industrialized large urban areas. Bulgaria has six stations for monitoring the quality of the Black Sea water, which carry out tests four time per year. The catchment area of the Black Sea is 22 times its size. It is inhabited by 162 million people. The Black Sea absorbs industrial and household wastes from much of Europe's heavily industrialized areas mainly through several large rivers such as the Danube, the Dnieper, the Bug, the Dniester, the Don, the Kuban, the Rioni. As a result of the pollution, 87% of the Black Sea, below the depth of 60-200 meters, does not oxygen but is filled only with hydrogen sulphide, and is therefore devoid of life.