The mountain stands alone : between conservation in Pirin National Park and tourism demand

Abstract: A balance between conservation of nature and economic development is becoming harder and harder to achieve. While, biodiversity is blooming under strict protection laws, people are increasingly lacking tools and resources to feed their local economic growth and development. The following thesis aims at investigating the conflict around ski zone Bansko, located in Pirin National Park in Bulgaria. The discrepancies between conservation and development can be clearly observed in this particular case. Decisions leaning towards loosening the regulations over protected areas have led to continuous protests and public debates, where stakeholders cannot find a common agreement regarding the management of the park. The specific inquiry I am going to impose, brings the attention to perceptions of nature and different values stakeholders and groups in society attributes to nature. I ask what the differences between perceptions of nature from different stakeholders are and if they can be considered as part of the problem. These perceptions were obtained from official documents, statements, reports etc and analysed with the framework of discourse analysis. Perceptions of nature related mainly to instrumental value and with some stakeholders – intrinsic as well. The differences appeared in the interpretations each stakeholder places on instrumental value of the mountain – a resource for different development paths. I further asked whether individual perceptions could also differ from organisational one – represented by the stakeholders. Individual perceptions were acquired through semi-structure interviews and showed a greater variety of both instrumental and intrinsic value. On individual level could be observed a genuine concern about the environment and the main theme revolves around the mountain itself. While, stakeholders seem to use the mountain debates as a platform to bring about other issues and topics they seem to think are more relevant – like political demands, economic rights, identity issues. Questions remain about whether stakeholders are debating about the nature, or just about their interests and agendas.