According to Environment Minister Kostas Skrakas, Greece will stop new road construction and development in six mountain areas. This is the first step to protect its last virgin habitats. The conservative government of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitchells has made the transition to green energy a priority and promised to close down almost all its lignite-fired plants in 2025 and to protect areas with native animals and plants.
The government has pledged to improve climate change defenses after last summer’s destructive wildfires that were sparked by a prolonged heatwave. Skrekas said that recent extreme weather events and disasters have presented a risk to nature and mankind.
He stated that Greece will not allow any construction of roads or any other type of human activity in six mountains on the Peloponnese peninsula, in central Greece, and on the islands of Crete, Samotrace. These mountains have a great environmental value and are an integral part our tourism. Mitsotakis pledged to transform Greece’s economy by better using its natural resources, but was forced to find a balance between the expansion of wind parks in mountain areas and the protection of forest habitats.
Locals and environmental groups have long opposed private companies’ plans to build roads and allow wind turbines to be installed on mountain forests. They argue that they would destroy some of the country’s last virgin areas. Skrekas announced that all permits for different stages of windturbines that have been issued to those mountains for wind projects will be canceled.