ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
byN.-K. Hlepas
Αssociate Professor, University of Athens
In 1975, the Constitution of the new - born Third Republic embodied pioneer, detailed regulations for the protection of the “natural and cultural environment”. Art. 24 underlines the obligation of the State to take all preventive and repressive measures required to protect the environment, while forests and forest areas obtained a special protection status including restrictions of private property rights. Hav-ing in mind the extensive damages caused to the “urban landscape” by the uncontrolled building craze during the fifties and the sixties, the new Constitution introduced strict standards for the physical and urban planning as well as for the safeguard of cultural heritage.
These new regulations enabled the development of a pioneer ju-risprudence by the Greek Conseil d’ Etat (Symvoulion Epikratias). Since 1991 a special section within the Court (its 5thsection) deals with
environmental issues. The same section gives opinion on the legality of draft presidential decrees on various matters, acting -only for that purpose- as aGrand Corps de l’ AdministrationThe Court has underlined that the Con-stitution accepts only sustainable development. So, it demands an all-embracing environmental im-pact studies and affirms citizen’s rights for access to environmental information. The Court’s decisions forced the government to re-plan major projects and confirmed the reputation of the Greek Conseil d’E-tat as an independent, steadfast guardian of the environment. In April 2001, Article 24 of the Con-stitution has been amended. The principle of sustainability has been explicitly adopted, while the pro-tection of the environment has been explicitly recognized as a fundamental right of everyone.
ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY Responsibility for environmental matters at the national level lies with the Ministry for the Environ-ment, Physical Planning and Public Works. This Ministry, originally es-tablished in 1980 with the inten-tion of concentrating all responsi-bilities within one body, has been constantly expanding its activities as no other Ministry did during the past decade. Nevertheless, some important responsibilities re-mained in the domain of other Ministries, such as the Ministry for
Agriculture (forestry, hunting etc.) and the Ministry for Industry, Re-search and Technology. Adminis-trative structures that specialize on environmental protection are nec-essary, in view of the sector-cutting nature of environmental issues and the high degree of profession-alism and expertise that is needed. Today about 900 employees in the responsible Ministry (“YPE-HODE”) mainly work on physical planning and the protection of the environment, while ca. 15% of this staff followed postgraduate studies. Particularly important is also the Environmental Inspec-torate Authority, which is one of the main bodies for enforcement and compliance to environmental legislation. Competency for envi-ronmental inspections were also given to various authorities, such as departmental and regional au-thorities responsible for the oper-ation or environmental permitting, port authorities, health authorities, regional forest authorities and po-lice authorities. A National Environ-mental Information Network and existing monitoring networks have been improved. It should be out-lined, that European Community funds acted as catalysts for the promotion of environmental poli-cies and the creation of new orga-nizational structures.
In 1995, a new Bureau was estab-lished in the Division of Environ-mental Planning, namely the “Bu-reau for National Environmental In-formation Network and European Environmental Agency” (here-inafter referred to as the Bureau). The Bureau has two major aims: • to co-ordinate the National Environmental Network and
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
its connection with the Euro-pean Network (EIONET); • to co-ordinate and operate the
Greek Focal Point (NFP) of the European Environmental Agency (EEA).
The first aim is being supported by the National Environmental Infor-mation Network (EDPP). The sec-ond aim was initially accomplished through administrative actions such as staffing and budget allo-cations.
Since theEarth Summit in 1992, Greece has been implementing a comprehensive policy towards sustainable development. Sus-tainability is introduced in the de-velopment policies of the country and sustainable practices are in-tegrated in sectors such as energy, tourism, transport, agriculture and industry.
TheMinistry for the Environment, Physical Planning and Public Works has developed a co-ordina-tion mechanism for sustainable development and the implemen-tation of Agenda 21, in order to mo-bilise the interest and involvement of all the competent ministries and other public sectors and to co-operate with all relevant groups. Under this mechanism, the Min-istry undertook the preparation of the annual reports for submis-sion to theUnited Nations Com-mission on Sustainable Develop-ment (CSD) in order to assess the progress towards the principles of Agenda 21.
Effective environmental gover-nance comprises a cycle of issue identification, stakeholder involve-ment, sound policy making and ef-ficient implementation. Environ-mental institutional development and Governance procedures in
Greece have been initiated largely due to the porting of EU policies and guidelines. As such, they are consistent to a great extent with the principles laid out by the world’s most environmentally pro-gressive entity. Greece has got significant environmental and in-stitutional expertise at the ad-ministration’s reach. This has been proved by the success of cross-cut-ting endeavours such as the Na-tional Strategy for Sustainable De-velopment and, at a much larger implementation scale, the efficient one-stop shops for the citizen, known as Citizens Service Centers. In environmental policy, there is a growing tendency to shift from the predominant use of “command and control instruments” to an in-telligent mix of regulative with non-regulative instruments, such as economic instruments is more than obvious. New European Directives on Environmental Liability and emissions trading scheme can be seen as two characteristic exam-ples, while less progress has been achieved regarding energy taxation and more has to be done in order to “get prices work for the environ-ment”. In Greece, pricing policies, are already used in order to encour-age the production f “clean” energy whereas in many areas that present high external environmental costs (overuse of natural resources, pol-lution, solid waste management, transport etc.) environmental costs are increasing being internalized through the use of the economic in-struments. Such changes can, how-ever, be proceeded only after an ex-tensive dialogue with the social and economic stakeholders. The intro-duction of economic environmental instruments must be phased over
a number of years including trial runs. It is worth the trouble, as this concept can crucially contribute to the preservation of natural capital as the basis of economic and social development and can further boost business competitiveness in terms of eco-efficiency and technological innovation.
A STRONG TRADITION OF ENVIRONMENTAL NGOS Conservation and management of the environment also depend on the activity of non-governmental or-ganisations that focus on environ-mental issues. In Greece, these NGOs vary in terms of their frame-work of structure and operation, their basic objectives, their range of activity, the number and scope of their interventions, etc. Most of the Greek organisations undertake actions, which are limited in num-ber and scope and for the most part involve issues of local importance, perhaps focusing on the protection of a specific species of plant or an-imal. However, the projects most likely to attract wide public atten-tion are those of the relatively “large” organisations, which have the advantage of an organised, professional working framework and many years of experience. Some of these represent the Greek branches of organisations active in many countries; others are purely Greek in origin. The issues that in-terest them do not usually fall into any narrow, local category, although in some cases they concentrate their efforts on the conservation of just one species and its habitat. An NGO is any kind of private non-profit society agency whose primary objective is to provide general development aid. An NGO
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
may be set up by a group of citi-zens who want to oppose a govern-ment programme, by an associa-tion of experts seeking to ensure that the state has the benefit of neutral and unbiased advice, by an industrial sector attempting to shape government policy to serve its interests, and in general by groups of people trying to strength-en their role in the decision-mak-ing process. The fact that most en-vironmental NGOs in Greece are mainly small groups with no rigid structure and very limited funds renders them even weaker when they are about to negotiate with the local or regional authorities let alone from the central government. For this reason, the environmental NGOs created already in 1988 the Pan-Hellenic Network of Ecological Organizations, representing the largest part of Environmental Or-ganizations throughout Greece, which acquired legal status in
June 1988. Later on, the responsi-ble state authorities acknowledged the importance and mutual benefit of close cooperation with NGOs. In the meantime, an official register of environmental NGOs has been established. Many of these NGOs collaborate with public authorities, mainly with the Ministry for the En-vironment, Planning and Public Works, but also with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or other Min-istries. Environmental NGOs are also very important for public in-volvement in the collecting of en-vironmental information, and in the evaluation of the need for in-formation, which can significantly increase the likelihood of correct decisions being made. However, particular attention must be paid to the way in which environmental information is disseminated. The public is becoming ever more de-manding, requiring new and more accurate data on environmental
problems and even challenging the most widely discussed issues (greenhouse effect, lack of water resources, etc.). Moreover, just as political propaganda may under-mine a democracy, so a continual stream of information on a narrow range of environmental problems may mislead the public.
MANAGEMENT AND PROTECTION OF BIO-DIVERSITY
In Greece 5500 species of flora and 900 species of fauna have been recognised. Many of them are rare and endemic. There are also many protected areas, significant num-ber of which is of international in-terest, and Greece has been com-mitted to their protection through international conventions. Induc-tively there are 10 National parks, 11 Wetlands of international inter-est (Ramsar), 51 preserved natural monuments, 300 Corine bio-topes, 113 important areas for the birds of Europe etc. There are also 265 ar-eas which have been proposed for the Natura 2000 network. The main problems for Greek ecosystems which are of great value are caused from some inten-sive human activities (tourism, mining, agriculture, animal grazing etc.) which have as a result the degradation of bio-topes and the diminution of flora’s and fauna’s population.
Since the Earth Summit in 1992, Greece has been implementing a comprehensive policy towards sustainable development. The main aim of actions taken on the management and protection of bio-diversity is to provide the
knowledge and the facilities for monitoring, protecting and manag-ing the flora and fauna species. A major problem for Greek forest ecosystems is that of forest fires. The lack of a forest cadastre en-courages the process of illegal settling and building on the areas of forest which have been burnt. A huge effort has been launched quite recently with the cadastral survey of the country. According to the Greek Constitution the refor-estation of the burnt forests and forest areas is obligatory while any change in the forest land use is prohibited. The completion of the forest cadastre is expected to protect forest land from illegal grape. The forest Services have been provided with the necessary infrastructure, but there is still lack of adequate trained staff and laxity in the observance of the law. The Local Authorities and par-ticularly the Central Union of Local Authorities of Greece in order to address this problem have also un-dertaken many actions, such as or-ganizing groups of voluntary fire-men, local civilians that proved to be very efficient.
Desertification in Greece is a grad-ually emerging danger. This is a re-sult of the country’s geological, topographical and climatic charac-teristics, which cause soil erosion, often leading to the final and al-most total loss of productivity, as well as the drastic reduction of wa-ter resources.
Greece ratified theUnited Nations Convention to Combat Desertifica-tion and in close co-operaDesertifica-tion with the other European Mediter-ranean Countries proceeds to the formulation of the national and
re-ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
gional programmes to confront the danger. For this purpose a National Committee was set up and various scientific and technical meetings are organised.
COASTAL ZONES -MARINE ENVIRONMENT Greece gives high priority to the protection of the marine environ-ment and the sustainable develop-ment of coastal areas and islands. The country’s coastline of 15,021 km is the most extensive among all Mediterranean countries. This coastline is evenly distributed be-tween the continental part of the country and the Greek islands, which number approximately 3,000. The coastal area contains diverse and productive ecosys-tems that house many rare species in need of protection (e.g. sea turtle Caretta - caretta, monk seal Monachus - monachus etc.). The high coastal concentration of
population and economic activities generates pressure to coastal ar-eas. Non-built up and natural con-servation areas have decreased and the coastal landscape has been altered in the recent years. At the same time pollution problems have emerged in enclosed seas and bays. All these call for the adoption of a special management policy that will ensure both the pro-tection of marine and coastal ecosystems, and the future devel-opment of human activities in a sustainable way. The Greek Min-istry for the Environment, Physical Planning and Public Works formed a Committee to address the prob-lems of Greek coasts and islands in an integrated way, and launched theNational Programme for Sus-tainable Development of Greek Coastal Areas and Islands. Fur-thermore, actions have been taken within the framework of theGreek Operational Environmental Pro-gramme for the Protection of Ma-rine Environment, aiming at the
de-velopment of the necessary infra-structure for oil spill treatment and reception facilities for oil and chemical residues from ships. Cleaning and restoration projects have been carried out as well. The Greek Ministry for the Environ-ment has established an integrat-ed network for monitoring the quality of sea water.
• Thequality of bathing water has been monitored in major bathing areas during the tourist period. The results, psented annually in a special re-port, show that most of the ar-eas examined meet the re-quirements of EEC Directives. Consequently, a great number of bathing beaches has been awarded the EU Blue Flag. For the bathing season 2004, 99,9% of Greek coasts com-plied with national require-ments, while 97,6% of coasts met EU requirements. • The quality of sea water in
general is monitored under the MED-POLprogramme. This involves monitoring stations covering enclosed bays as well as the open sea. The results are presented annually in a special report, and show that in the open sea no pollution problem has been observed. In the bays, certain parameters show increased values. • Greece gives special
impor-tance to, and is involved in the Mediterranean Action Plan (MAP), which operates in the framework of Barcelona Con-vention. The Co-ordinating Unit of MAP is hosted in Athens
since 1982. UNEP’s programme MAP concerns the protection of the Mediterranean basin from pollution coming from land based activities. Furthermore, a Protocol is being prepared for the prevention of pollution in the Mediterranean from trans-boundary transportation and disposal of hazardous waste and an action plan is being pro-moted for the priority toxic substances.
WASTE MANAGEMENT One of the major environmental problems of Greece was, until re-cently, the lack of management (collection, treatment, disposal) of solid and toxic wastes. Therefore in many-uncontrolled waste dis-posal areas there are odours, pol-lution of surface and underground waters, air and soil pollution, fire danger and aesthetic pollution. During the last years, Greece is pro-moting the needed actions for the solution of the problem as a result of the country’s national needs and responsibilities to the E.U. At the national level, technical specifications for the safe handing of waste are being determined. A system of permits was introduced for the collection and transport of
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
solid waste. Legislation has been issued aimed at reducing air pollu-tion from waste incinerapollu-tion plants. Threshold limits have been estab-lished for heavy metals in sewage sludge used in agriculture. Activi-ties were initiated to promote waste prevention and recycling. Re-cycling programmes are being im-plemented for paper, glass and alu-minium. Programmes are being introduced for the reduction of weight and volume of packaging material. Awareness campaigns are being carried out. Responsibil-ities for waste management have been delegated to local authorities. The management of liquid wastes is focused on the treatment of liquid wastes at the national scale with the construction of waste treatment facilities in settlement larger than 15,000 inhabitants. The problem of industrial pollution in Greece is not so big (heated -sharp) as in the countries of north-ern Europe, because Greece has a few heavy industry.
For all that, there is problem of in-dustrial pollution in some areas, the big urban centres, which are also the big industry areas in Greece. The industry today in Greece is characterised by im-provement efforts for the environ-ment sector.
The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Dispos-al was signed in 1989 and was rat-ified in 1994. National legislation provides for planning of the man-agement of toxic and dangerous waste, procedures for the transport of dangerous waste, special permits for the disposal and storage of
dangerous waste and measures for building facilities for toxic residues at ports. TheEU Eco-Label Award Scheme has been imple-mented at the national level with a view to minimising certain waste products. Significant progress has been made in the management of hazardous waste, and sludge and electricity production from biomass gases and waste has increased from 1 GWh in 1999 to 126 GWh in 2002.
ATMOSPHERIC ENVIRONMENT The atmospheric pollution is a problem for the last 30 years in Greece and is related to the urban-ism and the economical develop-ment of the country. The region of Attiki faces the most significant problems due to the climatic fea-tures, heavy traffic and un-favourable topography for the dis-persion of atmospheric pollution. Measures for the solution of the problem have been applied since 1978. These measures were target-ing to the reduction of SO2 and Pb high emission rates.
The measures that have been tak-en for the reduction of SO2 includ-ed the prohibition of crude oil utilisation to central heating and continuous reduction of S content into crude oil and diesel. The above measures had excellent re-sults and therefore the problem of SO2 today is under control. As far as Pb is concerned air pol-lution has been reduced due to the use of unleaded gasoline. Parallel to the above measures, an-other action of the country is the
continuous provision of the re-quired infrastructure for better di-agnosis of the problems and con-sequently for better interventions. The Environmental Services have been also taken a series of meas-ures which concerned the industry, the central heating, the improve-ment of fuel quality, the replenish-ment of old cars, the improvereplenish-ment of traffic conditions (e.g. construc-tion of metro) etc.
The noise zones in Greece are the urban areas and mainly Athens where it has been concentrated the 40% of Greek population, the 35% of industrial and handicraft activi-ties and the 70% of Services. Other noise zones are the main arterial roads, industries, ports, airports, tourist and construction activities. The general aim of action pro-gramme for atmospheric environ-ment and noise has been the de-velopment of the infrastructure for the continuous monitoring of the atmospheric environment (in-cluding air emissions) of Greece, with emphasis given to large urban centers and to areas with signifi-cant energy production units. The atmospheric pollution is a dynamic problem which evolves and changes with time. So further long time efforts are necessary in order to be controlled.
The Noise abatement programme in major Greek cities attempts to re-duce noise in major Greek cities through such actions as periodic in-spections for motor vehicles/motor-cycles and major industrial instal-lations with respect to their noise levels, the construction of noise protective barriers along major
highways, the promotion of noise insulation materials in buildings, and the promotion of so-called “quiet products”, that is products which by being quieter are more favourable to the consumers. According to its commitments, the Greek government has elabo-rated National Action Programme for Climate Change, in its desire to contribute to the world’s effort to protect the natural environment. The implementation of the measures is supported either by administrative policies focusing on the necessary regulations, or by economic policies aiming at modifying the behaviour of those involved. The interventions contained in the program are: • supply-side interventions
(mod-ernisation of the existing power generation system, develop-ment of TIP generation system, the introduction of Natural Gas in the national energy and re-newable energy sources ex-ploitation)
• demand-side interventions (en-ergy conservation in the do-mestic, commercial and public sectors, technological interven-tions in the industrial sector and for the transport sector and for the transport sector interven-tions in the fuel types used, im-provement of vehicles in circu-lation and rational management and modernisation of the entire transport system).
The programme aimed to be the Greek contribution to the EU obli-gation to stabilise - as a whole - its CO2 emissions by the year 2000 at 1990 levels.
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
In order to fulfill the obligations un-der the Convention, Educational Programmes are organised for the issues of Climate Change, financial contributions are made to the Trust Fund of the Convention for the participation of the develop-ment countries, to GEF and to Re-gional Development Banks and technical assistance is provided to developing countries.
WATER RESOURCES
The uneven distribution of activities in the country resulted in water de-mands which often can not be covered by local water resources and therefore rational water re-sources management at a national level is a high priority in Greece. The management of the quality and the quantity of the waters in lakes and rivers Deltas, where there are important bio-topes, is of high significance.
The water resources management in Greece progressed significantly during the last years, mainly after the creation of a new legal frame-work. However, the spreading of management responsibilities to a large number of Ministries and Public Services raises serious dif-ficulties. In Greece, irrigation is of paramount importance for agri-culture productivity. It accounts for over 80% of total water abstrac-tions. Between 1992 and 2002, water abstraction for agriculture has been reduced by 2,5%. Within the next years, further reductions will be achieved.
The important rivers of Greece (Ax-ios, Strymon, Nestos, Evros) have
their springs in other countries while two of the main lakes (Doirani and Prespes) are international. For the above reasons the co-oper-ation with the neighbouring coun-tries for the management of fresh waters is very important for Greece. Urban, industrial and agricultural liquid wastes are responsible for the pollution of fresh waters in Greece. The pollution extend in every region of Greece depends on the local conditions and on the availability of waste water treat-ment facilities. Significant progress has been made in wastewater management and approximately 70% of the national population was serviced by wastewater treat-ment in 2004.
LAND & URBAN PLANNING / AESTHETIC POLLUTION The inadequate land and urban planning during 1950-80 resulted in the gradual degradation of the natural and urban environment in many areas of the country. TheNational Action Plan for Cities and Housing (1996-2000), which Greece has developed as part of its participation to the HABITAT II Inter-national Conference of the United Nations on Human Settlements (Instanbul 1996) has two main ob-jectives: the creation of cities which provide safe, healthy, equal and sustainable living conditions and the guarantee of adequate housing for all.
National actions taken with regard to human settlement development are:
• Urban Planning programme for the definition of urban
plans for cities which lack rel-evant plans, as well as for the improvement of existing urban plans in light of modifications in the urban structure and the operations in the city. Con-siderable emphasis is given to the development of urban plans for estates located in ecologically sensitive areas, coastal zones and islands. • Projects for theprotection of
his-torical and traditional sites aim-ing at the improvement of urban conditions in selected Greek cities, traditional settlements and tourist sites, in order to im-prove the quality of life and liv-ing and workliv-ing conditions. Under this framework a special programme for the “Urban restoration in cities and settle-ments”, excluding Athens, Atti-ca and Thessaloniki, is being implemented.
Special programmes are financed that include interventions at local and regional scales in such themat-ic areas as: air, water, waste, traffthemat-ic, noise, land planning, urban devel-opment, environmental awareness and legislation.
ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION
The Ministry of Education has as a target the reorientation of educa-tion towards sustainable develop-ment. In this context Environmen-tal Education Centres (E.E.C.) have been established, where students
participate in special Environmen-tal Education programmes. The E.E.C. also organise special Envi-ronmental Education training pro-grammes for employees, commu-nity organisations, teachers etc. A systematic co-operation has been established on special ped-agogical Environmental Education pilot projects, with major Envi-ronmental groups such as WWF, Goulandri Museum of Natural His-tory, Greenpeace, etc.
Two Greek Ministries and USA have signed an intergovernmental Co-operation Agreement for the global network GLOBE that con-cerns the creation of environmen-tal stations in schools.
The necessity for briefness does not allow a more extensive refer-ence to be made about numerous other individual programmes, ac-tions and decrees relevant to the protection, management and reha-bilitation of the environment in Greece. Nevertheless, what is clear from the above is that Greece has adopted an environmentally friendly policy which it attempts to apply to all sectors through nation-al legislation, adoption of Euro-pean environmental laws, and participation in international agreements concerning the protec-tion of the environment.
USEFUL LINKS
Hellenic Ministry for the Environment, Phys-ical Planning & Public Works