Natural heritage: Provision of cultural ecosystem services from the Malyovitsa Range of the Rila National Park

Abstract

Nature-based tourism and recreation are attracting attention today as the most favourable form of direct connection between people and nature, and as a very successful tool to motivate people to protect their natural heritage. This study aims to develop and test a methodology to assess the potential of an acknowledged natural heritage site in Bulgaria - Malyovitsa Range and Urdini Cirque in ‘Rila’ National Park to provide cultural ecosystem services. A holistic approach is applied, using landscapes as the main territorial unit, and source of information. For the purpose of practicing representative types of mountain tourism: ‘mountain hiking’, ‘nature education’ tourism, ‘ski touring’ and ‘mountaineering’ a total of 15 ecosystem services were assessed based on 25 biophysical and social indicators. ‘Primary forest landscapes on moraine materials’ and ‘Primary landscapes with mugo pine on igneous rocks’ receive the highest score. Based on the results obtained, an assessment of the mainstream activity - access to mountain hiking provided by the landscapes was carried out and two touristic routes with very high potential to deliver this service were identified. The results of the study are directed towards the responsible parties in support of the natural heritage conservation in Rila National Park through sustainable management the potential to provide cultural (recreational) ecosystem services. The research was conducted within the scientific programme of the project “Conceptualization, Flexible Methodology, and a Pilot Geospatial Platform for Access of the Bulgarian Natural Heritage to the European Digital Single Market of Knowledge and Information Services” within the project BG05M2OP001-1.001-0001 Establishment and Development of “Heritage BG” Centre of Excellence (Operational Program “Science and Education for Intelligent Growth”, priority Axis 1 “Research and technological development”).

Prioritization of ecosystem services related to the natural heritage of Bulgaria

“…However, prioritization of the ecosystem services provided by the NH has not been developed so far. This is the main challenge of this study and overcoming it is crucial for the development of a methodology to promote the access of the Bulgarian natural heritage to the European Digital Single Market of Knowledge and Information Services, which is a part of a broader research titled "Heritage BG Centre of Excellence (Nedkov et al, 2021;Nikolova et al, 2021;Semerdzhieva and Borisova, 2021;Silvestriev et al, 2021).…”

National natural heritage at risk: The Seven Rila Lakes

“…Studies of Nedkov et al (2014), Nedkov et al (2018Nedkov et al ( , 2021Nedkov et al ( , 2021aNedkov et al ( 2021b, Zhiyanski et al (2021), Hristova and Stoycheva (2021), Neugarten et al (2018) provide a good methodological basis for the development of sustainable models for tourism development. The practical application of the ecosystem approach for assessing the capacity of ecosystems to provide ecosystem services for recreation and tourism is well developed both for the territory of the country (Ihtimanski et al 2020, Prodanova 2021) and for specific natural heritage sites in Bulgaria (Silvestriev et al 2021, Semerdzhieva and Borissova, 2021).…”

Natural heritage as a source of ecosystem services for recreation and tourism in Bulgaria

“…The use of landscapes as spatial units in the ES mapping and assessment is rarely studied so far and the works of Silvestriev et al (2021) and Prodanova (2021) provide approaches that integrate the methodologies from classical landscape ecology and the landscapes studies developed in Russia and some Eastern European countries. Prodanova (2021) uses a 5-level landscape classification to distinguish 41 contemporary landscape units that were incorporated in the ES assessment matrix together with selected ES relevant for recreation and ecotourism.…”

“…The approach ensures the generation of maps representing the capacity of the landscape to provide ES relevant to recreation and tourism. The study presented by Silvestriev et al (2021) aims to develop and test a methodology for assessing the potential of an established natural heritage site in Bulgaria. A holistic approach is applied, using landscapes as the main territorial unit and source of information.…”