News|Announcements

Management Body of Mount Parnonas & Moustos Wetland

Astros, 6/2/2011

This year's World Environment Day (June 5 2011) is dedicated by the United Nations (UN) in the forests and the services they provide to humanity. It is meant to celebrate both “forests for people” and “people for forests”.

Amongst the natural ecosystems, forests are those suffering by the most significant effects, as they are threatened by mega-fires, which leave millions of hectares of bare land in their path.Fires are the most serious danger that threatens the existence of forests. Every summer thousands of acres of valuable forests are burned. In August 2007, a devastating forest fire seriously affected many ecosystems of Parnonas, one of which was the black pine (Pinus nigra) forests.

In 2009 the LIFE + project “Restoration of Pinus nigra forests on Mount Parnon (GR2520006) through a structured approach” addressed the need to counter the effects of this fire and to better design the restoration of black pine forests across the country. The project is being implemented by the Goulandris Natural History Museum / Greek Biotope – Wetland Center in collaboration with the Decentralized Administration of Peloponnese and Western Greece and Ionian, the Decentralized Administration of Macedonia - Thrace and the Management Body of Mount Parnon & Moustos Wetland. The implementation of restoration measures have been already successfully completed, with the reforestation of 2900 acres of priority habitat type *9530 “(Sub-) Mediterranean pine forests with endemic black pines” in the Site of Community Importance (SCI) GR2520006 Oros Parnonas (Malevis and region). Alongside the results of the monitoring program, the natural regeneration is evolving satisfactorily.

Along with the restoration actions, a systematic approach is developed concerning the decision making to restore forests of black pine, which can be applied in future in other cases, to properly address the arising deficiency problems of time, funds and planting material. The action is significant, as adverse forecasts of climatic conditions in Greece and their effects on forests, will require targeted and on time response.

This year, June 5, World Environment Day, we send a message of hope and continuity in the effort to protect and regenerate our environmental resources. This year, June 5, together, we all support and highlight each initiative for the protection, development and sustainable management of forest ecosystems and preserve biodiversity in perpetuity, to upgrade our quality of life in order to fulfill our duty to deliver our forests to future generations.