Paper short abstract:

Based on empirical research this paper will address how people from small village communities in the Rhodope Mountains (Bulgaria) have united to take measures against the realization of private business investments that would disrupt the established regimes of environmental protection in the region.

Paper long abstract:

Based on empirical research this paper will address one current issue: how people from small village communities in the Rhodope Mountains (Bulgaria) have united to take measures against the realization of private business interests and investments – the opening of quarries for the extraction of marble and ballast that would disrupt the established regimes of environmental protection in the region of the Middle Rhodopes - these are the areas included in the UNESCO protected biosphere reserve Červenata stena (Red wall) and the program “Natura 2000”. The ongoing research is focused on people’s strategies of coping with change and uncertainty such as protests and local resistance movements that mobilize public support through social, kinship and political networks. The following issues will be discussed in more detail: the emergence of new political, cultural, and ecological awareness of mountain communities fighting against the environmental exploitation of their territories; the role of the new inhabitants and their families in preserving local livelihoods and traditions, and the many forms of negotiation on how living together, including different visions and even conflicts on practices of resource management, sustainability, and heritage.

The analysis is based on an ethnographic study carried out in the villages of Červen, Dolnoslav, Gornoslav, Dobrostan and the town of Asenovgrad - the center of the local Municipality within the the research project "Anthropology of Uncertainty"(2021-2024) supported by the Bulgarian Science Fund.