The scientific research projects were affected by the war in Ukraine, but the scientists have achieved the goals set within them, for which the Tulcea researchers are grateful, the specialist of the National Institute for Research and Development of the Danube Delta (INCDDD), Silviu Covaliov, manager of the "Joint monitoring for environmental protection in the countries of the Black Sea Basin" (BSB-884) project, whose final conference took place Tuesday, told AGERPRES.
The BSB-884 project started in 2020, was funded by the European Union through the Black Sea Basin Joint Operational Programme - 2014-2020, and had as a general objective the increase of the level of availability of cross-border data on environmental monitoring in natural parks and protected areas in Bulgaria, Romania, Armenia and Georgia, told Agerpres.
"During the project, Russia has had interventions in Armenia as well, and our partners asked for derogations many times, because the activities were stopped and they could not reach the office or the field. However, we have achieved results that we are very pleased with. It is a pilot project that lays the foundations for long-term development premises," the project manager said.
Covaliov added that the main problem faced by the researchers due to the war in Ukraine was the increase in prices, "but we were allowed to extend the project by two and a half months, both against the background of the pandemic context and that of the war, which allowed us to achieve all our objectives."
Biologist Silviu Covaliov noted that in another project similar to the one presented on Tuesday, IASON, despite the war in their country, the Ukrainian partners have fulfilled their established activities in front of the partners.
"I'm a mere collaborator in that project, but I can tell you that the partner from Ukraine is dealing with aquatic species and we thank him very much for not withdrawing from the project. We can only have compassion and gratitude for everything that happens in this region," the INCDDD representative stressed.
Within the BSB-884 project, in July, in Bulgaria, a cross-border center for joint environmental monitoring was inaugurated, an intelligent platform for collecting, processing and analyzing the environment was created, a common working methodology was established, 69 units from the partner states were monitored and a tutorial was made for the use of an unmanned flight system, acquiring such a system through INCDDD project.
"These new sensors are a step forward, in the sense that their use makes our activity easier, having real-time and continuous data on certain parameters. It would be good to have sensors for several indicators that we can position in key locations in the reserve," the INCDDD representative, Cristina Despina, said.
The partners in the BSB-884 project are the Association for Culture, Technology, Education and Development - Plovdiv University, Bulgaria, INCDDD- Romania, the Regional Environment Center for the Caucasus, Armenia branch, Armenia, and the Society for Nature Conservation, Georgia.
The total value of the project is one million euros, the contribution of INCDDD being of 180,000 euros.
IASON - Invasive Alien Species Observatory and Network Development for the Assessment of Climate Change Impacts in Black Sea Deltaic Protected Areas - investigates invasive species in a cross-border context and is carried out in partnership with the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve Administration and research & education institutes in Ukraine, Georgia, Greece and Turkey.
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