Parnitha threatened; national park at risk from developers
Ecological settlements, riding facilities and sports grounds aimed both at training athletes and entertainment are some of the recent plans to boost income and increase ecological tourism in the Mount Parnitha national park. The «ecological» – and profitable – transformation of one of Athens’s last remaining green spaces, which involves the felling of thousands of trees and the use of tons of concrete, was dreamt up by the Hellenic Casino of Parnitha SA, an offshoot of Hellenic Tourist Real Estate (ETA), which has undertaken to sell off the Greek Tourist Organization’s (EOT) property. The plans are contained in the preliminary memorandum addressed to investors. Among the properties the State has handed over to ETA are the Mont Parnes Casino and the Xenia Hotel on Parnitha, as well as 310 hectares of forest in the heart of the national park, incorporated into the EU’s Natura 2000 protection program. An investment plan of this nature could only spark reactions. A coordinating committee to save Parnitha has already been formed by dozens of local and environmental organizations, and has led to debate in Parliament. ETA was forced to place a full-length advertisement in the daily papers assuring that «not one leaf» will be cut in Parnitha’s forest. Nonetheless, the preliminary memorandum, the first phase toward the competition for tender, includes enlarging the car park around the casino, adding a funicular railway (entailing the felling of trees), more roads and the construction of a heliport. ETA is also considering constructing a zoo in the national park to showcase its valuable biodiversity: 1,000 species of plants, 113 kinds of birds and numerous animals, including a herd of 100 deer. «When we met with Anastassios Homenidis, the chief consultant of ETA,» said Popi Baka, member of the coordinating committee, «he assured us that the zoo would not affect any areas except those belonging to the Mont Parnes Casino and Xenia Hotel. Does that mean a zoo within the building?» People feel they are not getting clear answers. «Parnitha will not become like Pendeli and Hymettus,» they say. The most worrying piece of information from the meeting with ETA executives was that «the Ministry of the Environment, Planning and Public Works is preparing a presidential decree on land use and building conditions on Parnitha.» At the same time, ETA is not short of ideas to boost earnings, including the adoption of an «ecological tax,» which basically means a ticket to set foot on the mountain. In reply to a question on March 8 by Left Coalition deputies, Deputy Agriculture Minister Fotis Hadzimichalis clearly stated that «the sale of the above public tourist landholdings, as well as the expansion of EOT facilities or the creation of new ones within the national park’s heart, contravene both decrees on national parks and EU directives.» In addition, Deputy Development Minister Dimitris Georgakopoulos underscored that «the 310 hectares of forest land within the Parnitha National Park are not linked to the casino privatization; they are excluded from the transaction.» These two statements by the government, despite the fact that the Environment Ministry did not reply, rather negate the moves made by ETA and the Hellenic Casino of Parnitha, companies under state control. What then, will the information memorandum of the second phase, the last step before the competition, contain? «We are still on the alert,» said Baka. People’s reactions were positive. «Naxos is a small community; we all know each other. Most people told me, ‘We don’t understand about certifications and such things, but we trust you.’ And they began to get more interested. Afterward, a show was held in the summer on the property with organic farming as its theme, and people became more aware and began slowly to learn. Since then, agriculturists have phoned me and asked me where they can find the insect traps they saw on the farm. Moreover, people have started to be frightened of pesticides. You can hear them say, ‘He gave me good potatoes, which he grows for his own use,’ because everybody knows that there is a great difference in what producers keep for themselves and what they sell. All these things make us believe that more and more people will probably want to follow our example. That has been our aim from the start.»
