On 06.12.2024, the Subsidy Contract was signed for project – “Safeguarding biodiversity and combating poaching – BioGuard”, code ROBG00018, funded under the Interreg VI-A Romania-Bulgaria Program, a project in which the Territorial Inspectorate of Border Police Giurgiu is the Lead Partner.

The overall objective of the project is joint measures for improving the capabilities of the relevant authorities in charge of the protection of biodiversity and preventing illegal actions that affect the Danube ecosystem and the protected areas (GR,TR and CL-RO and RS, SS, VT and PL - BG).

This project has four partners, namely Territorial Inspectorate of Border Police Giurgiu, which is also the Lead Partner, Giurgiu County Gendarmerie Inspectorate, Giurgiu County Police Inspectorate and Executive Agency for Fisheries and Aquaculture.

The specific objective of the project is the increasing the intervention capacity for the environmental protection, through the development of the training infrastructure and the corresponding endowment of the authorities in charge, by implementing:

1. Joint strategies and joint action plans tackling biodiversity protection and the issue of illegal actions that affect the Danube ecosystem and the protected areas;

2. Development and implementation of conservation and protection measures of Natura2000 sites on the Romanian side and equivalent natural protected areas on the Bulgaria side, according to the EU Nature Restoration Plan and the Bulgarian National Framework for Natura 2000 Priority Actions 2021- 2027 (applicable for the Bulgarian partner).

The expected results are:

• Construction of the “Confiscated goods and zonal operational center” in Giurgiu County;
• Procurement of special equipment by I.J.J. Giurgiu;
• Procurement of special equipment by I.P.J. Giurgiu;
• Procurement of special equipment by Bulgarian partners;

The total value of the project is 3.499.630,11 euro of which 2.799.704,08 euro EU contribution.

The project implementation period is 36 months, from 07.12.2024 to 06.12.2027.