Environment Min Skylakakis presents comprehensive management plan for Greek forests

Nearly half of Greece's forest ecosystems are not managed and climate crisis demands they be sustainably so, it was noted at the press conference, and all those that are being managed do not take advantage of all forest production foreseen in approved management studies. "Managing forests is important in several respects because it provides the best kind of prevention," Skylakakis noted.

The detailed proposal's strategic focus, as revealed at the event, is the comprehensive management of forest ecosystems in Greece that leads, among other directions, to cleaning them up and introducing works to reduce the threat of fire, increasing the chain of products and national produced value, supporting local communities, creating new job opportunities, reducing illegal economy, and creating a reliable system to record and follow data.

The minister and his team presented the details of the steps that include updating management, subidizing biomass extraction from forests, and setting up a voluntary market of carbon dioxide absorption from reforestation or improved management plans for forests. Plans for protection from fire will be obligatory, and the forestry service will be augmented with more permanent and seasonal staff, with 500 people in the former case and 1,200 in the latter, based on current law. Technology will also be upgraded and used for inspections and database input.

According to the data presented at the press conference, the total forest ecosystem in Greece extends to 7,600,000 hectares (76 mln stremmas, 2022 data), of which 49% are managed for production. The registered forest workers in Greece total 9,220 and the registered forest cooperatives total 293. Most of the workers (68%) are concentrated in northern Greece, especially in Macedonia and Thrace. The registered forest workers are over 50 years of age, and most are aged between 50 and 60 years, while not all of them are active.