Greece poised to make marine parks a reality

Greece is reportedly on the cusp of creating two marine parks that will almost double its marine protected areas

The Saronic Gulf, one of four Greek gulfs that may see special protection according to reports (Photo John T Psaropoulos)

Press reports last week said Greece is about to pass legislation making two announced marine parks a reality.

A report in Ta Nea on Thursday [May 29] said prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis would announce their imminent creation at the 10^th Our Oceans Conference in Nice this month.

Environmental groups applauded the initial announcement of the parks at the 9^th Our Ocean Conference in Athens last year. They would raise the extent of Greece’s marine protected areas from 18.3 percent of territorial waters to 30 percent, in line with UN goals.

Greece already claims to protect 27 percent of its land, coming close to the 30 percent goal. But marine protection lags behind, say scientists, both on paper and in fact, and because the marine domain is largely hidden from view, its degradation has gone largely unnoticed.