More than a decade of care for wetlands
Via Pontica restores life to the wetlands of the Black Sea coast — where one of Europe’s great bird migration routes passes every year.
Who we are
Via Pontica is an independent Bulgarian foundation, established in 2015 in Burgas. We work on biodiversity conservation, ecosystem restoration and the sustainable management of natural resources across the Black Sea basin.
The place we have chosen to focus on is one of the most important and most vulnerable in Europe — the coastal wetlands, the lake complexes, and the link between river basins and the sea. These are the most productive ecosystems on the continent, and at the same time the ones disappearing fastest.
This is not work that happens on paper. We have restored nearly 100 hectares of degraded land and returned it to functioning wetland habitat.
2015
established in Burgas
100 ha
of restored wetlands
NATURA 2000
protected site BG0000273
Our mission
We founded Via Pontica with one clear purpose: to offset the adverse impact of human activity on nature through concrete, measurable action in the field.
Protection alone is no longer enough. Where an ecosystem has already been destroyed, guarding it does not bring back what was lost — active restoration does. That is what we do: we rebuild the structure and the functions of damaged natural systems, then measure them, monitor them, and open them up to people.
Nature needs not only our protection, but also our intervention — concrete, timely, and in the right place.
Ecopark Vaya — our ground
At the heart of our work is Ecopark Vaya, within the Burgas Lakes complex (Natura 2000 site BG0000273) — one of the most significant wetland systems along the Via Pontica flyway.
Here we carried out a full ecosystem restoration of nearly 100 hectares. Land that had been degraded is once again a functioning wetland habitat: open water, breeding and resting birds, recovered vegetation, and a working hydrological connection.
Ecopark Vaya is more than a restored site. It is our living laboratory for environmental monitoring, a place for education programmes, and a meeting point between science, the local community, and anyone who simply wants to see what recovered nature looks like.
What we do
Ecosystem restoration
We design and carry out the restoration of wetlands and coastal habitats — from hydrology and landform to vegetation and long-term monitoring after the intervention.
Science and monitoring
We combine fieldwork with satellite data and digital tools. We study carbon capture in restored areas, the state of biodiversity, and water quality.
Education and community
We open our sites and our data to schools, students, researchers, fishers and local people. Conservation only lasts when there are people who want it to.
Policy and advocacy
We take part in consultations, working groups and European platforms, turning what we learn in the field into workable decisions — from River Basin Management Plans to the Marine Strategy and the EU Blue Deal.
International cooperation
We work with partners across the Black Sea region and Europe on shared projects in restoration, climate adaptation and the blue bioeconomy.
How we work
We don’t separate science from practice
Every restoration we undertake is designed on data and tracked for years afterwards — otherwise we could not claim to have achieved anything.
We don’t work alone
We bring together scientists, civil society organisations, local authorities and business, because none of them can solve the problems of a coastal ecosystem on their own.
We don’t stop at the border
The Black Sea is shared. We work with partners in neighbouring and more distant countries, because fish, birds and water do not recognise administrative boundaries.
Networks and memberships
Via Pontica is an active member of international environmental networks and policy platforms:
UN Global Compact
United Nations Global Compact
Wetlands International
global wetlands network
PAN Europe
Pesticide Action Network Europe
Ramsar Convention
national NGO focal point for the CEPA programme in Bulgaria
Restoration is long work. Join us.
We are looking for project partners, researchers, volunteers and organisations who want to work for the Black Sea region.