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ReSAC team participated in Master Territorial Management Plan for Bolyarovo Municipality in Consortium headed by ASDE-ECOREGIONS

The Master Territorial Management Plan (General Development Plan) for Bolyarovo municipality, South-East of Bulgaria – on the border between Bulgaria and Turkey, is developed by a consortium headed by Agency of Sustainable Development and Eurointegration – Ecoregions (ASDE). ReSAC experts take part in the design team.

The Master Territorial Management Plan (General Development Plan) covers the whole territory of the municipality (667.33 km2) with 20 settlements with their legally associated lands with center Bolyarovo.

The requirement for Master Territorial Management Plan, is based on the significant changes in the socio-economic environment and the conditions, in which the economy, the social area, the technical infrastructure, the natural environment are developed. These changes affect the processes, related to the development of the main functional systems of Bolyarovo municipality, which have defined requirements to the spatial planning of the municipal territory. The Master Territorial Management Plan is developed on the basis of Art. 124 of the Spatial Development Act and Decision of the Municipal Council for development of Master plans.


Fig. 1 Location of Municipality of Bolyarovo

The Plan is developed as a project in two phases: preliminary and final project. It is accompanied by environmental assessment, according the provisions of the Environmental Protection Act and/or the Law for the Biological Diversity.

In response of the new tendencies of the EU policies, especially in regional management, new CAP, strengthening resilience, data harmonization and regular monitoring of changes, some innovation practices are included in the General Development Plan, as example

  • Harmonized Databases and Smart Geo-portal
  • Regular monitoring of changes based on satellite images interpretation and the standard ISO 19144-2;
  • Integrated risk management and prevention planning, using Local Exposure and Loss Information Databases;

The RESAC Center, in cooperation with the ASDE, carried out additional activities within the frame of the development of Master Territorial Management Plan for Bolyarovo Municipality.

In the ReSAC Center an analysis was made of forest areas affected by bark beetles. The analysis is based on the alarming rates and the ubiquitous spread of a bark beetle invasion that covers large areas of coniferous forests across the country. A map is created that gives an idea of the exact locations (hot spots) trees subjected to drying, which can be used in the fight against the invasion of bark beetles. It was estimated the area of the affected territories and had made an indicative analysis of the loss of pulp (See Figure 1). Satellite image from the European satellite Sentinel 2, dated August 24, 2017, were used for analyzes. The image is subjected to additional processing, interpretation and automated classification in the ReSAC. Spectral channel combinations are used: NIR-Red-Green / Red-Green-Blue.


Fig. 2 Territories affected by bark beetles.

With a view to the proper implementation of tasks in preparing General Development Plan for Bolyarovo municipality was extracted additional information from satellite imagery associated with land cover, land use and related changes over the years. For this purpose were used images from:

  • the European satellite Sentinel 2, date 3 May 2017
  • Korean satellite with SAR KOMPSAT 5, date 11 April 2014 and 5 May 2016

It was made radiometric and field processing of the image from the satellite KOMPSAT-5 in order to be compared with the Sentinel 2 image and were distinguished basic types of land cover. A more detailed study of the specifics of the different types of Land Cover and, in particular, of the types of land cover in the urban environment is to be explored in order to study the changes in the different years.


Fig. 3 Combining radar with optical image.

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