Environment a matter of urgency
If there’s one thing that is certain, it is that by the time Giorgos Souflias gives the green light for the creation of an independent Environment Ministry, there will no longer be a need for it. If things stay as they are, we’ll simply resolve what is today considered to be an environmental problem by destroying everything. Presidential decrees (such as the one on the recycling of discarded building materials) will continue to be shelved in the archives of the various ministries; the illegal quarries at Markopoulo will continue to pollute the environment, thanks to the apportioning of responsibility among many different ministries and services; the Acheloos River will have been diverted without the requisite environmental precautions having been taken; and the fire-ravaged areas will have given way to the development of properties. The government must proceed with the establishment of an Environment Ministry. It owes it to the country. Environmental destruction tends to be permanent. Establishing a ministry three years from now will merely serve to certify the present catastrophes.
