STEP (Society for Territorial and Environmental Prosperity)

Rural topic(s): Agroecology and agroforestry, Local ecological knowledge, Conservation and management of natural resources

City: Sofia

Country: Bulgaria

Web site: http://www.step-bg.bg/en

STEP (Society for Territorial and Environmental Prosperity) long-term goals are to contribute to:

• Sustainable territorial and environmental development of rural areas and rural economy;

• Protection of natural resources and biodiversity by creating and promoting conditions for sustainable use of natural resources;

• Introduction and implementation of training and education on sustainable territorial and environmental development, including training the trainers and new teaching methods;

• Capacity building of stakeholders for sustainable territorial and environmental development, by raising awareness and improving the knowledge of local communities and farmers;

• Diversification of agricultural production and systems, including by promoting innovative practices and partnerships;

• Provision of expertise for analyses, studies, evaluations, assessments and proposals related to the development of sustainable rural and regional development policy;

• Provision of information and consultations on agriculture, environment, social and regional development policies.

STEP is involved in a project on knowledge exchange and learning related to High Nature Value Farming (HNV)

Scale of intervention : National

Keywords: biodiversity conservation, Farmers Ecological Knowledge, empowerment of rural communities, high nature value farming (HNV), integrated rural development, rural policy

Places: Bulgaria

Actors: association

Methods: training/capacity-building, consulting/expertise, experience exchange, prospective studies, raising awareness

Success stories:

• HNV Link: High Nature Value Farming: Learning Innovation and Knowledge, Bulgaria