Bulgaria – a victim of WWF’s „green racketeers“

In 2012 the then WWF chief Yolanda Kakabadze awarded Toma Belev. Two years later, Kakabadze also handed a prize to the Nepal WWF mercenary Kamal Kunwar, who was involved in murder.The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has spread its network to more than 100 countries including Bulgaria. The WWF branch in Bulgaria is headed by Vesselina Kavrakova, wife of the former head of Vitosha Nature Park and unsuccessful politician Toma Belev. In the management is also Katerina Rakovska, the wife of Green Party activist Andrei Kovachev.First stepsThe beginning of the pseudo-conservation group in Bulgaria began in the late 1990s when WWF branch was opened in Bulgaria and in 2006 another structure, WWF – Danube-Carpathian programme was established. Now both are run by Vesselina Kavrakova. Her husband, Toma Belev, is responsible for the destruction of Vitosha, which during his 13-year rule has become a wasteland. The other head of the WWF-Bulgaria was Katerina Rakovska, the wife of another prominent ”environmentalist” and unsuccessful candidate – Andrei Kovachev.
Subsequently, the network of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) gravitating around WWF increased to around 30. The leadership of all NGOs was intertwined in a limited circle of people based on family-friendly relationships and dependencies. The ”Green” NGO” were grouped in the Coalition ”Let nature remain in Bulgaria”, from which the PP ”Greens” originated in 2008. Formation has always appeared on elections in an effort to get to the legislature and the executive but has not yet been over 0.6%. To this day, the coalition has no court registration and obvious leadership but because of its aggressive behavior state institutions always fulfills its insane demands.
While in Africa and Asia the mercenaries of the organization torture and kill the population in the areas bordering protected areas, the scheme in our country and in the other European countries is different but also has serious consequences. Our country is an example of how entire regions are depopulated while official authorities bend under the ”green racketeering” of the Fund and its affiliated organizations. Extortion also involves conducting dozens of lawsuits against key state and private investments accompanied by weak protests that close key intersections in major cities at peak hours.
As WWF is the leader in ”Let nature remain in Bulgaria”, the ”greens” in Bulgaria have the resources to conduct international campaigns against the Bulgarian state, municipalities and business. Worldwide, WWF has long been exposed as an organization that uses environmental causes to make billions. Another example is the Buzzfeednews.com investigation. After its publication in the UK, audits began, and celebrities funding the Fund with millions differentiated themselves from it. Among them is Leonardo DiCaprio.
But in Bulgaria there is still no response from the authorities. ”Let nature remain in Bulgaria” remains the conductor of the business of WWF international concern masked behind an ecological cause. The local funding includes funds absorption from EU programmes – WWF and ”Let nature remain in Bulgaria” ”structures in Bulgaria receive millions of EU funds in the field of biodiversity. During the programming period 2007-2014 for Bulgaria they had access to 215 million euro (about BGN 400 million).
Another feature of the ”greens” and WWF is the pressure on investors and companies, the state and municipalities.VictimsOne example is the delay of the construction of Lot 3.2 of the Struma Motorway with more than 14 years. The section passing through the Kresna Gorge was supposed to be ready in 2004. Then the ”greens” intervened and in any way sabotage the project – delations to Brussels and appeals to the Bulgarian courts, and media campaigns in ”Capital” and ”Dnevnik” of Ivo Prokopiev. These newspapers put through the manipulations of ”environmentalists”.
The ”Struma” case was also indicative of the ”green” lobbying. Over the years, they have been insisting on a megatunnel with length over 15 km through the gorge. In 2013, the state yielded to the ”green” pressure and chose the Swiss consortium ”Via plan – Amberg” for the draft tunnel project (worth almost BGN 3 million). Namely, Switzerland is the country where WWF is registered. Later the contract was broken and ”environmentalists” continued their outrageous campaign with contributions to the Standing Committee of the Berne Convention, which monitors compliance with European environmental legislation. The campaign also included media attacks against the Bulgarian state in Bulgaria and around the world – all supported by WWF. Victims of ”green” attacks were the construction of the Sofia Waste Treatment Plant, the construction of the 7th unit of Kozloduy NPP, the South Stream gas pipeline, the construction of the Belene NPP. All projects of great economic importance to Bulgaria and related to national security.
WWF and ”Let nature remain in Bulgaria” were behind the referendums in Tran and General Toshevo, after which the gold and natural gas exploration studies were suspended. Pre-consultation campaigns were tendentious and manipulative. They were full of lies about how mining would lead to poisoning the land in both settlements and people were caught up in this scam.
The target of the ”greens” is also the development of winter tourism, which is practically suspended in 2012 with the changes in the Forest Act, which were adopted after street pressure, organized by ”environmentalists”. Due to the restrictions today, Vitosha is ruined and no new lift is built on the territory of the country.
In Bulgaria, the state encourages Belev and a company instead of taking action. According to the latest information, the Association of Parks in Bulgaria, headed by the former head of Vitosha NP, received BGN 80 000 for a Natura 2000 project.
WWF and the ”greens” have political interests – they are obvious from the fact that the same individuals and organizations protest once against corruption, then for justice reform, but as they see it. They also make processions supposedly to protect the nature. This collaboration includes the right DSB, the indefensible ”Yes, Bulgaria” and frankly left of the ”Green” PP, and the three formations being in the coalition ”Democratic Bulgaria”.
One more fact is enough – in 2012, literally days after Toma Belev was no longer the director of the Vitosha State Park, which he headed for 13 years, WWF awarded him ”for his leadership and commitment to the green movement in Bulgaria”.
Belev received the award from the then WWF president Yolanda Kakabadze. As Trud wrote in the first part of this series, in 2014, Kakabadze awarded WWF mercenary Kamal Kunwar, who was implicated in a local murder in Nepal.
In fact, Toma Belev was also involved in murder – that of the Bulgarian economy, where were billions lost because of the ”green” racketeering. /TRUD/Source: www.skandal.bg