At this time of such dreadful news from Greece it’s great to be able to bring you some good news. Our friends at the Hellenic Ornithological Society (HOS - the BirdLife International partner in Greece) are delighted that Greek Ministry of the Environment has designated 66 new Special Protection Areas (SPAs) adding significantly to the Natura 2000 network of the best wildlife sites across Europe. Lake Karla is one of the sites and is pictured (credit HOS, R Trigou).
Forty one of the sites are completely new and overall this delivers a significant increase in the area of land in Greece designated as SPAs – in fact an impressive 1.3m ha (which is over half the size of Wales!).
HOS has been working long and hard to build up the scientific case for these designations through BirdLife International’s Important Bird Area programme. In Europe, Important Bird Areas are used as the scientific reference for the official designations of SPAs.
Tasos Dimalexis, Conservation Director of HOS is clear that designation is only part of the answer: ‘This is a great development for the conservation of our Important Bird Areas. However, there is still a lot to be done by the Greek government in order to achieve a comprehensive SPA network’.
The European Court of Justice has ruled that there current conservation measures are inadequate to protect the Greek SPA network. In welcoming the news of a significant expansion of the network, Tasos is clear about the challenge ahead: ‘This important step forwards will not yield positive results for birds and biodiversity unless it is followed by the implementation of adequate conservation measures for the key species of our SPAs’
Ensuring nature has a voice is never easy – our thoughts and best wishes are with our colleagues in Greece as they seek to secure the future of their country’s natural environment in these troubled times.