Prince Albert of Monaco in Elafonisos for the... lionfish of the Mediterranean

In Elafonisos - the Greek island that he was eager to visit - arrived today, the Prince Albert II of Monaco as guest of honour of the symposium «Elafonisos Eco Week» organized by the Ecological Association of Elafonisos, aiming at sustainable development for the protection of the environment.

The Prince of Monaco stayed on the «unique» island of the Peloponnese for a few hours, but promised to return. «Thank you for giving me the opportunity to discover this unique island. Unfortunately I will only be here for a few hours, but these few hours are enough to motivate me to visit it again. Today we are gathered here to make a common commitment to sustainable development,» he said in attendance at the symposium.

Albert's visit follows the participation of the island's mayor, Ephi Liaros, last month in a symposium in Monaco on the occasion of a pioneering research on the growing problem of lionfish in the Mediterranean, which was conducted by the island's ecological association during the «Ocean Week» in the small principality of the Côte d'Azur. The ecological symposium in Elafonisos will take place in the period 29/05-04/06.

This visit is a practical recognition of the balanced tourism development of the island with respect to the environment and the protection of nature. And as the mayor had stated to RES-MPA, «we emphasize the qualitative elements of the destination and we are particularly pleased with the honorary visit of Prince Albert, who is honored for our island».

It is recalled that the strategy of the municipality has developed initiatives based on the motto «selected by nature» that are systematically implemented through a series of actions that, apart from the participation in the Monaco Forum, have been developed recently with different themes, such as cultural diplomacy, the Interreg Greece Italy programme and wedding tourism, which enable the island to become more widely known to the global public with special qualitative interests.

The Mayor of Kythera Efstratios Harhalakis who was invited by the Mayor of Elafonisos Efstathia Liarou wrote on his personal Facebook account:

«It was with great pleasure that I was today in neighbouring Elafonisos, invited by my friend Mayoress Eustathia Liaros and the distinguished Italian «deer enthusiast» Enrico Toja, to participate in the annual Elafonisos Eco Summit, along with the President of KEDE and Mayor of Trikania Dimitris Papastergios, the Mayors of Hydra, Andros and Astypalaia, the Deputy Mayor of Kalamata and fellow local government officials.

At the opening of the Summit, we had the opportunity to welcome His Serene Highness, Prince Albert II of Monaco, who in the morning landed at the Kythera State Airport and then flew by helicopter to the neighbouring island, where with an inspiring speech he declared the opening of the conference.
At the conference, we signed the Sustainable Development Agreement, setting important environmental goals for our regions. As His Highness stressed, «whether on the beautiful shores of the Deer Coast or the cliffs of Monaco, the environmental and climate challenges are similar.».

Here is a summary of my intervention:
Your Serene Highness, dear colleagues, distinguished participants,
What we discuss here today is the future of our planet, our children. As the EU Commission stated in 2019, the European islands are facing three major challenges: 1) Ageing population, 2) Accessibility/Connection to mainland, 3) Environmental issues. So, speaking about cohesion and viable development for the islands, we have to take serious action on those three fields of interest.
As I said later, during the morning session, more action is needed in:
1. Waste and sewage management
2. water supply: less rainfall - more water supply challenges
3. civil protection
4. Energy transition
5. overgrazing

Allow me to close with an example: The Greek National Observatory for Climate Change will be built in the island of Antikythira and this huge infrastructure will use energy produced by the most expensive production unit all over Europe!
So let's act NOW!

At the end I offered to the AGY, Prince Albert II, the book by Kostis Stikas on the Antikythera Mechanism and invited him to visit Kythera to see the important actions and projects we are promoting with the aim of sustainable development of our island (landfill, desalination, sewage etc.)».