To mark World Forestry Day, which is commemorated annually on March 21, the Ministry of Environment and Energy hosted an event today at the Goulandris National Museum of Natural History.
The aim is to highlight the contribution of the Forestry Service over time, to present its modern role in forest protection and management, and to formulate the strategic direction for the future. The event highlighted the strengthening of the Forestry Service in terms of human resources, means and operational capacity, presented the formulation of an integrated framework for the protection, restoration, management and development of forests and underlined the importance of cooperation between the Forestry Service, the Fire Brigade, Civil Protection and Local Authorities
“On the occasion of World Forestry Day, we stand with respect to one of the most important natural assets of our country. Our forests are not only a source of life and biodiversity. They are a shield of protection against the climate crisis and a foundation of sustainable development for local communities,” Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in his message, read at the event, stressing that in recent years “we have proceeded to a comprehensive restart of forest policy.”
The Prime Minister stressed that for the first time in decades, mass appointments are being made, operational equipment is being upgraded with hundreds of new vehicles and modern surveillance equipment, while “the largest forest fire prevention programme ever undertaken in the country, Antinero” is being implemented.
“In total, the resources mobilized from the Recovery Fund, the NSRF, the Green Fund, and other instruments exponentially exceed any previous funding in the past before 2019,” the Prime Minister said in his message, concluding by saying: “For us, forest protection is not a piecemeal policy. It is a comprehensive national strategy, with a plan, resources and measurable results.”
For his part, Minister of Environment and Energy Stavros Papastavrou said that “in the geopolitical environment of uncertainty in which we live, which has an impact on the everyday life of every citizen, the power of every state is based on three interconnected pillars. “Economic and political stability, deterrent power and energy resilience”.
“From 2021 we launched the National Reforestation Plan and the Forest Protection Plan, also known as “Antinero”, with a budget of more than 680 million from 2022.” The Minister also referred to the erosion and flood control works and the institution of the rehabilitation and reforestation contractor: “This is how the Forestry Service, which always remains the custodian, worked with the local government to enable them, together with the private sector, to protect areas and prevent flooding and erosion.”
“For the first time in our history, after more than 200 years, we will have mapped all the forests in our country, with 90% of the area already partially sanctioned,” Papastavrou said. He also referred to the “close cooperation that exists between the Forestry Service and the Civil Protection and Fire Department officials. This is our strength. Cooperation.”
Papastavrou concluded by saying: “Forests are our natural capital. It is our shield against the climate crisis and our heritage for future generations. We must protect them as the apple of our eye.”
“And an acre of forest lost is a loss that is very, very difficult to restore, and that is the direction we are working towards. However, that Greece would reach a point where it would have a smaller affected area than countries such as, say, the UK, if someone said that 10-20 years ago, it would have been considered rather unrealistic, if not something even more forward-looking,” said for his part the Secretary General of Forests, Stathis Stathopoulos, adding: “It was not done by magic, it was done by coordination, by cooperation and by daily work in the field, both preventively and, unfortunately, when necessary, suppressively.”
Stathopoulos also referred to the Green Fund: “Right now a programme which at the end of 2019 was barely absorbing €4 million, purely for operating costs, closed last year with more than €120 million, finally gaining real content to finance forestry projects.”
The “new era”, which began with the Presidential Decree of 2022, which established the General Secretariat of Forests, was described by the Director General of Forests, Evangelos Gountoufas, in his statement.
Mr. Gountoufas referred to strengthening extroversion and developing partnerships with other Ministries, and elaborated extensively on the projects the General Secretariat is promoting: “All these make us a total allocation of over 882 million. 882,882 million from all sources of funding and also in addition are the studies which are in the order of 32.4 million euros.”
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Summarising all these initiatives, he said: “First, trust from political leadership to design, recommend and implement policies for prevention, restoration, conservation and development of forest subsystems. Synergy among all stakeholders from the state, local government, scientific community and society. Interventions with reliable, rapid and measurable results for the benefit of forests, the environment, the economy and society.”
