Ivan Tsvetkov‡, Ivan Atanassov‡, Krasimir Rusanov‡Corresponding author: Ivan Atanassov ( ivan_atanassov@abv.bg ) Academic editor: Miglena Zhiyanski © Ivan Tsvetkov, Ivan Atanassov, Krasimir Rusanov. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Citation:
Tsvetkov I., I Atanassov, K. Rusanov (2020) Assessment of Public Awareness of the Forestry Sector: Biodiversity, Certification and Ecosystem Services in Velingrad Municipality. Silva Balcanica 21(1): 69-76. https://doi.org/10.3897/silvabalcanica.21.e54698 |  |
The purpose of this study was to survey the current public awareness in Velingrad Municipality in terms of biodiversity preservation, certification and ecosystem services in the regional forestry sector. The answers to the questions related to the biodiversity and ecosystem services showed good aware- ness and a very positive attitude of respondents regarding the need for conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity as well as the improvement of ecosystem services. According to the conducted surveys, the awareness concerning the certification and standards in the local forestry sector as well as the regional NATURA 2000 protected sites was still weak or lacking.