Under pressure from protest rallies held in Crete with the aim of greening the island, which was revealed by the post on forest maps, but also the general outrage caused by the an increase of 60% in forest areas in the country compared to the 1945 maps, announced today by the government spokesperson Aristotelia Peloni, Meeting of the leadership of the Ministry of Environment at Maximos under Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
The purpose of the meeting, which will take place on Monday afternoon, April 5, is to review issues that arose from the posting of forest maps that added 2.7 million acres to the country's forest land and approximately 1 million acres to its grassland. The multitude of problems that have emerged seems to be forcing the ministry to take new legislative action just a few months after the latest regulations.
In areas such as Rethymno, the percentage of forest land exceeds 60%, while in small Cycladic islands reaches almost 80%, as for example in Koufonisia which have a forest cover of 79.71%.
Abandoned land without administrative action, which is at risk of being claimed by the state, forested farmland, i.e., agricultural land that has been forested due to abandonment, and the issue of state ownership are three of the major «thorns» which are at the heart of the problem that the legislative regulation, already announced by the ministry, will have to address. Its content is expected to be specified in detail after the Council of State (CoS) issues its decision, so that it does not risk being overturned.
The new provisions will also regulate issues concerning areas with asphodel because of which a large percentage, mainly in the Cyclades and the Dodecanese, has been designated as forest. The ministry's working group is already examining the issue and appears to have concluded in their exclusion, in the philosophy of excluding areas with phryganic vegetation, which is already in force.
With regard to obvious errors, the ministry has committed to finding a solution that will not require any additional action on the part of citizens, while the approximately 170,000 objections have already been submitted, and only a small portion of them have been examined so far. The relevant review committees are expected to begin work within the month, while many farmers across Greece are unanimously requesting an extension to the submission deadline (105 days from the date of posting per region) due to the ongoing pandemic. So far, however, the ministry has not agreed to a possible extension.
On this crucial issue, the Minister of Environment and Energy, Kostas Skrekas, Last week, he held extensive discussions with New Democracy MPs from Crete and members of the local government of the Region of Crete regarding the publication of forest maps, following which he pledged that the ministry «will take all legislative and administrative initiatives to resolve the issues that have arisen, always in accordance with the Greek Constitution, the case law as established by the decisions of the Council of State, and the sense of justice of the citizen. Any errors that may be contained in the forest maps will be corrected through horizontal solutions and internal procedures, without causing any inconvenience to citizens.».
The ministry has also clarified that The publication of forest maps will not change the subsidy regime administered by OPECEPE., which will continue to be paid.
