In the debate about protecting the environment, we often forget that seven-tenths of the surface of our planet is covered by water – oceans, seas, rivers, lakes. There is also the fact that Greece, with its islands, has the 11th longest coastline in the world.
Greece is pushing ahead with 21 initiatives worth 780 million euros to protect marine biodiversity and tackle coastal pollution, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Monday ahead of an international conference.
Ahead of the Our Ocean conference in Athens this week, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis stressed that Greece is quietly but methodically playing a leading role in defending itself against dramatic climate change.
The sole resident of Kerasia, on Mount Papikio in Rodopi, has been observing the changes to the village’s river since the 1980s. “We used to hear the Aspropotamos roar. Now it’s gone quiet.”
More than 40 new commitments will be made this week by the European Union in Athens at the international Our Oceans Conference corresponding to €3.5 billion, according to Virginijus Sinkevicius.
In raging fury, Giorgos Stasinos, president of the Technical Chamber of Greece, on Thursday intervened in the public debate to defend the incentives that the New Construction Regulation (NCR) offers contractors – it allows higher and larger buildings if these are “climate-friendly.”
The European Investment Bank (EIB) has announced it will lend Greece €220 million to help protect it against floods and wildfires, which are occurring more often as a result of climate change, as well as against other natural disasters such as earthquakes.
Giorgos Lialios, a journalist at Kathimerini covering issues related to the environment, joins Thanos Davelis to talk about the new marine parks Greece is creating, look into the upcoming Our Oceans Conference, and more.
Helleniq Energy is 12 to 18 months away from deciding whether to go ahead with drilling in the Ionian Sea and off the coast of the western Peloponnese, the CEO of the Greek petroleum firm told the Delphi Economic Forum.
Greece on Wednesday affirmed its commitment to safeguarding its sovereign rights.
Turkey has reacted to Greek plans for establishing a new marine park in the Aegean Sea by contesting the nation’s sovereignty over islands within the region.
Greenpeace Greece is stepping up a campaign to petition local authorities across the country to repair and/or install fountains and taps that will provide the public with free, clean drinking water.
In view of the ninth international conference on oceans, “Our Ocean,” on April 16 and 17 in Athens, the government announced on Monday the first three of Greece’s 20 commitments, concerning the creation of marine parks in the Aegean and Ionian seas and a ban on trawling in protected areas from 2026.
Large amounts of climate-warming refrigerant gases from China and Turkey are being smuggled illegally into Europe, undermining a global pact to phase them out, a report by the London-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) said on Monday.
The government is preparing to announce the creation of two new marine parks – in the Ionian and Aegean seas – ahead of the 9th Our Ocean Conference in Greece (April 15-17).
A six-year program to record and protect nine emblematic, but also vulnerable species of the Greek marine fauna was launched a few days ago.
