Abstract:
The forum was organized by the Experimental Laboratory of Karstology (ELK, http://www.prokarstterra.bas.bg/lab) in the National Institute of Geophysics, Geodesy and Geography of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (NIGGG-BAS) and was held under the motto “Protected Karst Areas – Islands of Sustainable Development”.
The forum included three international events:
• Fourth International Competition “Karst under Protection – Gift for the future Generations“ (Sofia, Bulgaria, 2019, http://prokarstterra.bas.bg/competition/competition-2019.html)
• First International Competition for students “Karst – the Last White Spot on the planet Earth” (August 4 to 9, 2019, Teteven, Bulgaria, http://prokarstterra.bas.bg/sci-competition)
• International Scientific and Practical Conference “Protected Karst Territories – Legislation, Tourism, Monitoring” (September 29 – October 2, 2019, Sofia, Bulgaria, http://prokarstterra.bas.bg/forum2019)
The main topics of the conference were: Karst and legislation; Karst and tourism; Karst and monitoring; Global changes and the need for a new strategy for sustainable development of karst areas.
The conference was attended by 42 representatives of 6 countries (Bulgaria, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Montenegro and the Czech Republic). The program of the conference included a plenary session, a solemn session, a scientific session, a field session, a round table, a final discussion and a 3-day scientific excursion. During the 11 scientific sessions (3 of them – field sessions), a total of 28 presentations were made, of which 3 plenary presentations and 2 – in the form of posters.
Ten of the papers presented at the conference were submitted for publication in the current issue of the “Problems of Geography” journal. These papers are represent a contribution to the applied research of karst and karst territories, while in the same time new opportunities for integration through karst between science, management of karst territories, the business of karst resources and education for / through karst, were provided. This integration is a strategic goal of the innovative scientific and methodological platform ProKARSTerra, developed by by the Experimental Laboratory of Karstology (http://www.prokarstterra.bas.bg/lab/methodology.html).