BGN 10.8 Mln Allocated for Arctic, Antarctic Research in 2022-2024

Jerusalem, 15 July, 2022 (TPS) -- SOFIA, (BTA)
The Bulgarian Government decided on Wednesday to allocate BGN 10.8 million for a three-year national program on the Arctic and Antarctic entitled “From Pole to Pole”. The focus will be on climate change at the North Pole, the Education and Science Ministry said in a press release.

The scientific work under the program will continue until 2025. It will finance competitions for cutting-edge research in the remote regions of Antarctica and the Arctic, attracting young scientists and increasing the research potential in Bulgaria, logistics, and maintenance of the Bulgarian Antarctic Base on Livingston Island, and scientific observations of the polar environment. The program will be funded with BGN 3.5 million in 2022, BGN 3.6 million in 2023, and BGN 3.7 million in 2024.

Funds under the Program will also ensure the annual voyage of the Bulgarian survey ship Sv. Sv. Kiril i Metodii to Antarctica.

The Program is coordinated by Sofia University’s National Centre for Polar Studies. The Bulgarian Antarctic Institute, the Vaptsarov Naval Academy, the Forest Research Institute with the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS), and the BAS National Museum of Natural History are partners in the project.