Press release-Forestry operations in the island of Kalamos and legal actions of Terra Sylvestris

 

 For several months now a program with the purpose of fire prevention has been materializing in the administrative region of Levkas in Western Greece that among other things includes forest road maintenance and forestry operations. The text that was approved as a study to justify this project and the relevant work plan has been approved by several state bodies that have jurisdiction over such matters including the Lefkada forest service.

From reading this text it becomes clear to us that there are highly significant gaps for this to be considered a proper study and that among other things it cannot adequately substantiate if and for what reason a fire protection program has to materialize and even more so the proposed work plan and to also evaluate the environmental impacts on the wider ecosystem inside and outside  protected areas where these are included in the work plan in relation to how the proposed work plan could reduce fire risk and fire hazard and to what degree.

It is worth noting that the plan includes operations in private lands.

It is also clear to us not just from the description of the work in the text that was approved as a study but also from the immediately apparent results from our own on site investigations to areas that have already had interventions as part of this program that materializing this program  equates to highly significant environmental degradation that to a large extent is irreversible even if the ecosystem was left without follow up operations or other forestry operations in the future.

When we addressed the local forest service for the issue ,this service denied our request to do whatever possible within the limits of the law to stop the  materialization of the program on Kalamos island. In addition to this the local branch of the Lefkada town council and more specifically the ruling party and the opposition  where informed by us  for the above events and have so far chosen the policy of inaction.

We therefore initiated legal actions within the Greek justice system against the materialization of the specific program in its entirety with an emphasis on the island of Kalamos.

We intend on our side to make every possible effort to protect the ecosystem and later restore the relevant environmental degradation as much as possible with sound restoration practices of optimal international practice standards where this may have happened in the context of materialization of this program within the Lefkada administrative region.