Her interference European Commission for the fulfillment by Greece of its obligations under Natura 2000 territories asked environmental organization WWF Greece. In its report to the Commission, the organization recalls that in the two years that have passed since the European condemnation on the same issue, the Ministry of the Environment has done little, as all the main issues – such as determining specific measures for the management of protected areas and species – they move very slowly. . With this step, WWF essentially asks to open a procedure for Greece to re-apply to the European Court and impose a fine.

On December 17, 2020, Greece was condemned European Court for poor (to the point of non-existent) protection of Natura 2000 areas. This was a decade during which biodiversity protection was not only not strengthened, but, on the contrary, a number of legislative acts systematically undermined it. “Since the creation of the Natura 2000 network in Greece, that is to say for about two decades, the actions taken by our country have been piecemeal, leaving these precious cores of biodiversity completely unprotected. Few of these territories in our country have any protected status, and the measures provided for by law, according to the European Court, are incomplete and insufficient,” the WWF said in a statement yesterday.

The organization points out that the preparation of “special environmental studies” (SEA), whereby Natura sites will be divided into zones with different permitted uses and management plans for protected species will be defined, “is experiencing significant delays, and it is doubtful when it will be completed.”

The environmental studies that will determine the management and permitted use of Natura’s areas have stalled.

“Two years after the decision of the European Court of Justice on the insufficient protection of Natura network objects and one year after the Prime Minister personally committed himself to complete the declaration of the protection status of all Natura 2000 network objects by the end of 2022. “We believe that little tangible progress has been made,” said Dimitris Karavellas, CEO of WWF Greece. “Obviously, the necessary protection and sustainable development of these valuable areas was not a strategic choice for the country, and this is disappointing. Let us be aware that something like this is not only our institutional obligation to the European Commission, but also our moral obligation to the next generations.”

It is worth noting that last week the environmental organization Medasset described in black terms the situation with loggerheads in our country at the 42nd meeting of the Standing Committee of the Berne Convention in Strasbourg. “Inspections by Medasset in Zakynthos and the southern Gulf of Cyprus this year again revealed a number of violations in the spawning grounds, such as illegal constructions and businesses along the coastline, uncontrolled maritime activity, lack of security, cultivation of alien species, use of vehicles. access to beaches, etc. Characteristically, even in cases of serious environmental degradation, such as, for example, the opening of an illegal road between Daphni and Gerakas in Zakynthos National Marine Park, the fines imposed are meager,” the organization said, indicating reluctance Greek authorities to comply with Community environmental legislation.

Stagnation

As a reminder, 23 special environmental studies for 446 Natura sites were ordered at the beginning of 2019 and none of them have yet been completed (10 have been submitted for public comment). Of the national action plans for endangered species and habitats, only 8 have been adopted to date, but they have not been implemented: typical examples, the recent destruction of the habitat of endemic trout species in Louros by the Epirus region, and the aforementioned complaints of Medasset. about their Careta Careta spawning grounds (native trout and sea turtles are two of eight cases for which there are action plans).