Borovets green rating – Ski Club of Great Britain

Borovets: green factor

ISO14001 approved:No

Is the resort ISO14001 approved?

ISO 14001 is a worldwide standard of environmental management for any organisation, created in 1996. Ski resorts on at least four continents are known to be working towards obtaining ISO 14001 certification or to have already achieved it. ISO 14001 is an environmental management system applying to those environmental issues which a ski resort business, or any company, has some control over and can be expected to influence if they want to.

The ISO 14001 standard helps any organisation to implement, maintain and improve an environmental management system; assure itself of its conformance with its own stated environmental policy and to demonstrate that it is conforming with those standards and any other environmental laws and regulations.

Recycling:No

Does the resort recycle?

Resorts increasingly offer recycling facilities to guests, either within their accommodation and/or at special recycling points, which are hopefully convenient.

As always there's a range of how far individual resorts go. Some go as far as looking to use waste to run their communal heating systems and others make targets to recycle 100% of all waste.

Green power user:No

Is the resort a green power user?

'Green' power (eco-friendly) typically means wind generated or other naturally produced energy such as solar cells. On the other hand, some fuel sources like bio diesel are less polluting than conventional fuels so could be considered a step in the right direction, if not the perfect answer.

Of course there is a great variation in how much (or how little!) a resort can do, from running a few snowmobiles on bio-diesel to having the entire resort operating on wind power or other renewable energies.

Traffic reduction:No

Does the resort have a traffic reduction policy?

Traffic reduction can take many forms. Several Swiss resorts and a few in other countries have banned cars altogether for decades. Some have never had cars on their streets.

Other approaches include pedestrianised centres and out-of-centre car parking with resort centre access only on foot or by public transport - hopefully, electrically powered buses. These, along with expensive and/or severely restricted resort centre parking, and an efficient free and cheap bus service, all help to reduce traffic problems and thus cut emissions.

Sewage properly managed:No

Does the resort have a waste reduction policy?

The influx of winter guests to ski areas tends to bring an influx of, what's politely termed 'waste water', to the mountains as thousands of guests use the toilets on the mountain and bathroom in their accommodation.

The most environmentally forward thinking ski areas are using techniques such as composting to reduce waste from mountain restaurants. In some areas purified wastewater is also being used for snowmaking, on the one hand an eco friendly measure as it recycles, on the other it might be argued that if water is needed for snowmaking in an area of marginal precipitation, their shouldn't be a ski area there.

Climate policy:No

Does the resort have a climate policy?

If a ski resort has a climate policy it means that the 'great and the good' in the resort have got together to work out a strategy to minimise the resort's impact on climate change and global warming. This can include many different initiatives such as recycling, communal heating, ensuring new buildings cause minimal environmental impact and so on. Most important is the ethos of the community to take the potential environmental impact of all resort aspects of life into consideration now and in the future.

Green building policy:No

Does the resort have a green building policy?

Ski resorts are increasingly looking at minimising the environmental impact of their construction projects, as well as the impact of newly erected buildings and other infrastructure.

Having a green building policy means resorts put environmental concerns at the top of the list when working on new projects. This can include a myriad of things from using helicopters to reduce the damage to surrounding land when building in sensitive areas, to using natural, local materials for building and looking for maximum insulation and minimum power requirements, ideally supplied in as eco-friendly a way as possible.

Major Initiatives

The following comments were received by a concerned Bulgarian citizen in November 2006. If we receive feedback from Bulgarian ski resort management we’ll post that also.

“There are further plans for ski developments in Rila and Pirin National Parks in Bulgaria, fueled by the expectation that many foreigners, especially from Britain, will buy holiday homes there.”

“The construction of a ski zone above the town of Bansko in Pirin National Park has lead to wide-scale environmental disruption in one of the wildest and most strictly preserved areas in the country. The analysis of local environmental organizations has shown that nine international and six national legal acts were breached in the Bansko Ski Zone construction. Two thirds of the ski facilities constructed have not been approved by the Bulgarian Ministry of Environment and Waters. The investor has also breached nearly every requirement included in the Environmental Impact Assessment decisions.”

“The landscape of a 1,000 hectare territory is seriously modified by the construction of ski slopes and facilities. As a result of tree trunks uprooting, climate factors, high altitude and intense excavation work undertaken, wind and rainwater have started to wash away the soil layers. The depth of crevices formed along the “Tomba” ski run is more than two metres high.”

“Over 2,500 ha of centuries old and protected forest was logged. Brown bears
were chased away from Bunderitsa Valley. A socio-economic poll carried out among random citizens of Bansko demonstrates that the quality of life for the majority of Bansko citizens has not improved as a result of the project. The public infrastructure is of poor and deteriorating state”

“Pirin National Park is inscribed as a World Natural Heritage Site under UNESCO’s Convention on the conservation of world cultural and natural monuments. Currently the World Heritage Centre is considering whether or not to sign the park as World Natural Heritage in danger.”

“Meanwhile, the state-owned Bulgarian Investment Agency has already given a first-degree investment certificate to “Dobrinishte Ski” company planning to build a ski resort between Dobrinishte village and Bezbog peak in Pirin National Park. Construction of new sport facilities is not allowed in National Parks by the Bulgarian Protected Areas Act. The maintenance of existing infrastructure is allowed only. Currently, a single ski run, which is 3 km long, exists near Bezbog peak, but “Dobrinishte Ski” plans to build many more. Dobrinishte village is close to the town of Bansko.”

“Another company, Balkanstroy, has also received a first-degree investment certificate to build a ski resort above the town of Razlog, near Bansko, in Pirin National Park. As in the case with Dobrinishte the construction of new sport facilities is not allowed in National Parks by the Bulgarian Protected Areas Act. The maintenance of existing infrastructure is allowed only. Currently, a single very short ski piste exists near Razlog.”

“The municipality of Sapareva Banya and other investors have developed a master plan for a large ski resort above the town. Two thirds of the resort are planned to be inside Rila National Park, the highest mountain in Bulgaria and the Balkans, verified according to PAN Parks standards in 2005.”

“Construction of new sport facilities is not allowed in National Parks by the Bulgarian Protected Areas Act. None of the four management zones of the Rila National Park allow construction of ski facilities either. The park is a potential Natura 2000 site, and as such it requires specific protection measures in order to comply with the EC requirements.”

“I hope this information gives a better impression as to what may happen to Bulgaria’s national parks soon due to ski development. I am a keen skier myself, but also think that nature should be respected as much as possible.”

Bulgarian environmentalists oppose plans for new super ski-resort invading Rila National Park
(Source: www.BlueLink.net)
Embracing parts of the Rila National Park by the ski-resort project “Super Borovets” is unacceptable, declared environmental organizations and tourism associations during the public hearing about the plan in Spring 2005.

The Association for Alternative Tourism, Eco-Rila - Samokov, Environmental Association "For the Earth", “Green Balkans” Federation, WWF, and others, pleaded changes to be introduced in the project in order to exclude the territories of the park from the construction of tourist infrastructure, ski-tracks and ski-trails.

The organizations demanded the environment minister not to approve the current environmental impact assessment report on the resort-tourism localization Samokov-Borovets-Beli Iskar. New tourist development concepts and considerable alterations in the Local constructional plan are needed, the environmentalists concluded. They also insisted more opportunities are providing in terms of alternative tourism and sustainable development in the region.

Since resorts are continuously increasing and improving their environmental practices, we update the Green Resort Guide throughout the year. If you have any information about new resort environmental policies/practices or anything that you think we may have missed, please email greenresortguide@skiclub.co.uk.

Beginners	Off piste	Families	Ski to door	Large ski area
Intermediates	Mountain restaurants	Non-skiers	Glacier	Modern lift system
Advanced	Luxury accommodation	Value for money	Cross country	No queues
Skiing for all standards	Eating out	Purpose-built convenience	Heliskiing
Moguls	Apres-ski	Snow-sure resorts	Picturesque
Snowboarding	Ski-and-shop	Romantic/charming	Traffic-free

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Borovets