Bulgaria (Partner 7)

RAPIV is a Bulgarian Association well linked with public authorities, being partially financed by regional and local authorities in Varna and featuring the District Administration of Varna and the Municipality of Varna among its founding members. Moreover, the Parliament of Bulgaria has a representative in the Management Board of RAPIV. The capacity of RAPIV to directly influence policies is highlighted among other by the fact that (a) it coordinates the development of the Regional Innovation Strategy (RIS) of the North-East Planning Region (NEPR) of Bulgaria; (b) Members of RAPIV are representatives of local and regional authorities; (c) RAPIV is a member of the public council within the Ministry of Economy and Energy, treating the issues connected with the Operational Programme “Development of the Competitiveness of the Bulgarian Economy 2007-2013”; (d) RAPIV is a socio-economic partner of the Municipality of Varna.

RAPIV competence on climate change issues is reflected on both its involvement in climate change related initiatives and the professional skills of the Association's advisory council consisting of 16 prominent scientists and businessman including representatives from Bulgarian Ship Hydrodynamics Centre, Institute of Oceanology and Naval Academy. More precisely, RAPIV participates in the implementation of an environmental project on “Designing and development of a quality new system for automatic monitoring, analysis and presentation of the water basins’ (water catch zone) condition in Bulgaria. Partners in this project are the National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology within the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and “Triada Soft” OOD. The idea for the development of such a system came after the massive floods that occurred in 2006-2007 in Bulgaria which have been a result of the climate changes in the relevant latitude.

RAPIV has gained relevant experience through the implementation of the following projects: