A VERY POOR CONSERVATION RECORD
Vanishing Greek fir forest in the Pelopnnisos. Widespread forest degeneration due to uncontrolled overgrazing by goats and by fires.
Globally endangered Dalmatian pelican shot by poachers in Vistonis Lake, Thraki.
Recently expanded road network in Messologhi wetland allows sport hunters to decimate waterfowl populations.
Typical clear-cut logging of mature oak forests East Rodopi, Thraki.
Some natural area protection in Greece exists on paper, but hardly any is put into practice.
The ongoing deterioration of wild and natural areas is tearing away at the very fabric of Greek nature. Modern pressures and greed prompt the continual degradation of natural areas, be they protected or not. If the destruction of the last biogenetic repositories continues at the current pace, it is only a matter of a few years before Greece will lose its unique ecological richness. The state of conservation of natural areas in Greece reflects inadequate government action, a long-standing public neglect of the country's ecological assets and insensitivity to the growing ecological crisis.
Greece has one of the worst protected-area systems in Europe.
Only 2.6 percent of its land area is protected; but even this inadequate land-base is largely neglected and allowed to be abused. Often, these protected areas - classified as National Parks, Aesthetic Forests, Protected Natural Monuments, and Hunting Reserves - are just token titles given to public land. In practice, these areas do not have any individual management plans or special enforcement measures.
Most of these "protected areas" have already been largely degraded by human pressures; and many are merely isolated trees, no-hunting zones (with no other restrictions), or artificial plantations.
The state of the most important type of reserves in Greece, the national parks, epitomize the irresponsible management of protected-areas in Greece. The 10 existing national parks are not only too small to protect viable natural communities, there is virtually no enforcement of the existing laws to protect them. Logging, roads, river diversions, development projects, widespread poaching, and uncontrolled tourism continue to degrade these areas. The outer peripheral boundaries of half of Greece's national parks have yet to be defined.
Most of these "protected areas" have already been largely degraded by human pressures; and many are merely isolated trees, no-hunting zones (with no other restrictions), or artificial plantations.
The state of the most important type of reserves in Greece, the national parks, epitomize the irresponsible management of protected-areas in Greece. The 10 existing national parks are not only too small to protect viable natural communities, there is virtually no enforcement of the existing laws to protect them. Logging, roads, river diversions, development projects, widespread poaching, and uncontrolled tourism continue to degrade these areas. The outer peripheral boundaries of half of Greece's national parks have yet to be defined.
There is a plethora of government protection for rare and endangered species, but it, too, is primarily on paper.
Overhunting and widespread poaching of protected species are commonplace. Endangered wildlife is killed indiscriminately for sport, and hundreds of rare birds and mammals are stuffed every year, simply for decoration. Predators such as wolves, which resort to preying on livestock because wild ungulates have been extirpated, are persecuted with poison-laced bait, either legally or illegally. Ecologists estimate that over 100 species of vertebrates - the rarest wildlife - are threatened with extinction.
