Kiril Valchev and Prof. Hristo Pimpirev presented the English edition of the LIC issue – 2024-09-26 19:17:03

In the two-day forum, in addition to members of the Bulgarian Antarctic Institute, representatives of the German Alfred Wegener Polar Institute, the Spanish Polar Committee, the Center for Polar Research of Poland, as well as representatives from Balkan countries such as Turkey, Romania, Greece, Cyprus, scientific and research institutions in countries with more experience such as Spain, Germany.

In front of some of them, Kiril Valchev and Prof. Hristo Pimpirev told about the cooperation between the Bulgarian Telegraph Agency and the Bulgarian Antarctic Institute in popularizing the activities of Bulgarian scientists in Antarctica.

The General Director of BTA briefly presented the history of LIK magazine, founded in 1965. He explained that the publication was restored two years ago and after the maiden voyage of the first Bulgarian research ship “St. St. Cyril and Methodius” the magazine published a special edition dedicated to on this trip to Antarctica and back. For its implementation, the agency sends its correspondent, who spends 107 days on board and publishes articles, photos and videos all the time. “This year it was difficult to find again a person who would agree to go to Antarctica for a few months. That’s why we had a reporter for about a month and a half,” added Valchev.

He explained that the number of LIK magazine, which is published in English, presents the Bulgarian science of Antarctica and includes all the articles dedicated to this project. They cover a variety of topics such as the impact of climate change, studies of marine life, metals, and human impact on nature.

Kiril Valchev announced that there are plans to publish the issue in Spanish as well. “One of the most interesting articles is dedicated to the collaboration of Bulgarian scientists with their colleagues from different countries, especially from Spain,” explained the general director of BTA.

He said that he had personally visited Antarctica three times and one of the most important things he had learned there was that cooperation between countries was very important indeed. According to him, Bulgaria, which is among the top ten countries on the continent that has its own laboratory and polar ship, can help countries such as Turkey, Montenegro and Romania in the implementation of their projects.

According to Kiril Valchev, it is extremely important that the achievements of scientists working in Antarctica be popularized among ordinary people in a language accessible to them. People should know why government funds go to research there, he believes. “Fundamental science is difficult to explain to the general public. One of the main goals of this magazine is to show that these studies are important for the future of humanity,” added Valchev.

Prof. Hristo Pimpirev, for his part, thanked Kiril Valchev for his long-term cooperation. “Twenty years ago, he visited Antarctica for the first time as a journalist and began to help promote the idea that our presence there is not a sports competition in which we climb peaks like Everest, but a very serious foreign policy. Science is important for all people , especially in recent decades, considering the climate changes that are particularly visible in Antarctica. This is the largest open-air laboratory,” the Bulgarian polar researcher also commented. Prof. Pimpirev clarified that the journal is not scientific and the articles in it are not written for such an audience, but are aimed at the mass reader.

“I am glad that here, at the first such seminar in Europe, the Balkan countries are gathering with the aim of starting to study and work together in Antarctica. We have had many wars and enemies in the Balkans, but it is important that now we want to be friends and to help each other for our common future as people and for our presence in Antarctic science”, commented the Bulgarian scientist.

Prof. Pimpirev also announced that a representative from Montenegro will be included in the next Bulgarian expedition for the first time, and Greece will take its first serious steps in scientific projects on the continent.

At the end, Prof. Pimpirev thanked for the wide attendance at the conference of representatives from almost all Balkan countries, as well as the more advanced polar countries such as Germany, Italy, Spain and Poland. “These representatives with a great Antarctic history show what we are doing in Europe and how we can help each other work together. Since Antarctica is a common continent, I wish the rest of the world could live as we live there – without wars, without envy, but as friends,” said Prof. Pimpirev.

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