On 1st of November 2019, the seventh workshop of the LIFE Natura Themis project took place in the village Kissamos of the Municipality of Kissamos in Chania.

The workshop entitled “Right and Liability for the Environment”, was co-organized by the University of Crete-Natural History Museum of Crete (UoC-NHMC), the Union of Cultural Associations of Kissamos, the Assocaition “Gramvousa”, the Cretan Orthodox Church of Kissamou-Selinou and the Municipality of Kissamos. The workshop was held in the Institute "Faldameio".

The following presentations were given:

• The project LIFE NATURA Themis: main actions and statistics. Elisavet Georgopoulou PhD, Biologist, UoC-NHMC.
• Administrative management of NATURA 2000 protected areas in Crete. Ioannis Fotakis, Forester, General Director of Chania Department of Conservation and Forest Management & Public Prosecutor
• The impact and consequences of the absence of a spatial planning of the rural land. Vanna Sfakianaki, Αrchitect.
• Biodiversity and ecosystem services in the NATURA 2000 Network areas in Crete. Elisavet Georgopoulou PhD, Biologist, UoC-NHMC.
• Environmental liability and citizens, Popi Baxevani Communication Officer- LIFE Natura Themis- UoC-NHMC.

The main points of the workshop are summarized below:

• All human activities have consequences for the environment. The results of the activities sometimes become obvious quickly, while other times the environmental degradation is very slow.
• True rates of Environmental Crime are unknown as only a small piece goes on the record. Nevertheless, the results of the crimes against the environment are obvious.
• Environmental protection is not a priority to our society. The economic crisis has made things worse and the state is not always able to protect the environment.
• Greece is a “champion” of environmental crimes in Europe.
• Although the Environmental Legislation of Greece is rather rich, there is an increase in environmental crimes.

The pdf files of the presentations are provided below (in Greek).