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Planning and regulations with regards to Wetlands in Greece
Legislative action with regards to wetlands in Greece - the fate of the bill initiated by former Minister for the Environment, Climate Change and Energy, Tina Birbili
While on the island of Rhodes, there was announced something which gave like a glimpse of hope with regards to wetlands in Greece. Thanks due to the initiative by Tina Birbili when still Minister for the Environment, Energy and Climate Change, she put forth a new bill:
"Environment Ministry puts bill banning construction, new farming to public consultation"
http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite1_1_25/05/2011_392226
But after the departure of Tina Birbili, it is no longer sure, if this bill shall be enacted upon. It had never reached the Supreme Court in time to become law.
The bill's intention was to complement the EU Water Directive (2000) by making it more applicable to the specific landscape found in Greece, and in particular to give further protection to wetlands. There has been articulated criticism that the bill was too specific, insofar as it went too much into details, when advice is that any law should be more straight forward and simple. Nevertheless it reflected the fact that under Tina Birbili the Ministry for the Environment collaborated for the first time with organisations like WWF on a scientific basis to draft the law.
Her removal reflects a regression in terms of the intentions by Prime Minister Jorgios Papandreou not only to let non PASOK members make their contributions to governance and reform, especially in such an area as the environment which has been neglected for such a long time in Greece and not only there, but to take serious the need to adapt to changed conditions for further development of Greece or of any country for this matter.
Environmental concerns are being constantly neglected due to an economic argumentation that they pose too often obstacles for further investments which are needed all the more now that there is this economic crisis. The mistake is being made to conceive of development as being something linked only to the creation of economic opportunities for not any kind of business, but more for those lying within major trends and therefore favored at the moment by such buzz words like 'green economy' to bring about wind parks and solar panels for alternative energy sources.
Official website of the Ministry for Environment, Energy and Climate Change
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