The Department of Environment of the University of the Aegean is celebrating the 35th anniversary of admitting its first students this year. On the occasion of June 5 – World Environment Day – and having gone through a productive journey that has led to the graduation of 2500 students, postgraduates and doctoral students, we feel obliged to give a brief assessment of the current environmental situation in Greece and a reference to the challenges we will have to face.

From 1987 to the present day, the country has made significant progress in environmental protection. The integration of European legislation has contributed to the construction of the necessary infrastructure, the obligation to prepare environmental studies for public and private projects, environmental quality monitoring with regular sampling and measurements, and the designation of areas as protected areas.

However, while there are significant improvements in some areas, there are others where we are lagging behind, either because we have enacted environmental laws that we do not enforce well enough, or because we do not have enough properly qualified leaders among general public. sector, or because we have not invested enough in the development of environmental awareness.

Among the various aspects of the environment, some of the problems that the state will have to face in the near future include the following:

• Waste management: most of the waste is still sent to landfill (> 75%) and the recycling rate is extremely low (20%). The construction of 30 plants for the processing of mixed MSW (MSW) creates serious reservations, due to the low recovery rate of clean recyclable materials and the quality of the compost produced. The gradual evolution of MEAs into Waste Treatment Units (RUUs) with a focus on the production of secondary fuels from waste (SRF/RDF) should be undertaken with extreme caution. Otherwise, fuel with a low calorific value will be produced at a high price. The operation of central waste-to-energy plants and the co-incineration of spent fuel in cement/metallurgical plants should be subject to strict environmental conditions, continuous monitoring of incinerated wastes and emitted pollutants. Separate collection (Separation at Source) should be a priority.
• Urban wastewater management: 90% of the country’s population is served by wastewater treatment plants. The construction of wastewater treatment plants should also be carried out in the smallest settlements (less than 2000 inhabitants) using low-cost technologies with low energy consumption. At the same time, the reuse of treated liquid wastes for low-hazard agricultural purposes should be encouraged, carefully applying existing legislation and ensuring human health. Extensive extraction of well water and installation of high operating cost technologies (desalination plants) to irrigate agricultural land are not sustainable solutions.
• Presence of chemicals in the environment: 30% of the country’s groundwater systems are in poor condition due to nitrate pollution and/or salinization. In accordance with the legislation, priority substances (heavy metals, pesticides, etc.) in drinking and surface water are controlled annually. However, the results are not published regularly, as a result of which we do not know what is being found and where. Studies show the presence of other micro-pollutants in the Greek environment (microplastics, PFAS, pharmaceutical compounds). The fact that they are not yet obligatory does not mean that we should ignore them.
• Presence of microparticles in the atmosphere: The widespread use of firewood over the past decade has contributed to the measurement of high concentrations of small diameter aerosols (PM2.5) in Greek cities. The problem is concentrated not only in Athens and Thessaloniki, but also in smaller cities (Patra, Larisa, Volos). In addition to microparticles, high nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ) values ​​are still measured in the center of Athens and high ozone (O 3 ) values ​​outside the center, mainly due to the widespread use of cars.
• Energy management and production: Over the past 3 years, the installed capacity of wind farms has increased from 2,579 MW to 3,861 MW, and the installed capacity of photovoltaic plants has increased from 2,171 MW to 2,779 MW. However, increasing the share of renewables in the energy mix faces the challenges of grid stability, stable/uninterrupted energy supply, and meeting energy demand. The environmental impact and ecological consequences of renewable energy development are important, with wind turbines being the focus.
• Energy and Climate Neutrality: The revised National Energy and Climate Plan for 2023 set a goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 55% by 2030 compared to 1990. Currently, the reduction in total emissions reaches 30%. There is also a lot of room for improvement on individual targets. For example, our energy efficiency target improved by just 6% compared to 2020, well below the EU average.
• Protected area management: In December 2020, the European Court of Justice condemned Greece for not taking protection measures in the special protected areas of the Natura network, although to this day it still lags behind in taking sufficient measures to comply with the Court’s decision. At the same time, the Law on the Environment 4685/2020 is in legal inconsistency with the European directives and is expected to lead to a deterioration in the quality of the environment.
• Sustainable tourism: it must take into account the economic, social and environmental impacts of activities, meeting the needs of visitors, businesses and residents. This requires the development of a policy that records the size of an activity footprint and evaluates whether that footprint affects a destination in terms of development prospects, social well-being, quality of life and maintenance of ecosystem functions. .
• Small and Medium Enterprises and the Environment. Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) remain vulnerable and unprepared for environmental disruptions. The development of studies to record the current situation, with a focus on the sectors and geographic areas of the country that are particularly vulnerable to such threats, will provide useful data for the strategic defense planning of individual SMEs.

By analogy with the protection of human health, it is true for the protection of the environment that “prevention is better than cure”. Solving environmental problems requires careful analysis, an interdisciplinary approach and, above all, a lack of complacency.

* Nasos Stasinakis is Professor of Environmental Engineering and President of the Department of Environment at the University of the Aegean.