On Monday 12^th of November 2018, the first workshop of the LIFE Natura Themis project took place in the village Melidoni of the Municipality of Mylopotamos in Rethymnon. This was the first workshop of the campaign to inform and raise awareness in Crete regarding the impact of environmental crimes on the citizens’ lives and social well-being.

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 Cultural Association of Melidoni and with the support of the Municipality of Mylopotamos. The workshop was held in the Hall “Scholarchio” between 17.45 pm and 20.30 pm. Villagers and locals participated.

The presentations given during the workshop included information on environmental and legal concepts such as biodiversity, protected areas, ecosystem services, priority species, conservation and management of protected areas, environmental crime, environmental degradation, spatial planning and environmental law. The speakers tried with simple words and real life examples to transfer their knowledge to the participants and make them understand that human activities affect natural and manmade environment, life and health and are directly related to the abovementioned concepts.

A short discussion followed the presentations.

The following presentations were given:

The project LIFE NATURA Themis: main actions and statistics. Elisavet Georgopoulou PhD, Biologist, UoC-NHMC.

Environmental protection during the times of the economic crisis.  Dr. George Papakostantis, former lecturer of the technological Educational Institute of Crete and high rank officer of the Hellenic Police.

Administrative failures and gaps in the Legislation. Iosifina Saridaki, Lawyer, member of the Bar Association of Rethymnon.

Administrative management of NATURA 2000 protected areas in Crete. Vasilis Samaritakis, Forester, External collaborator, Decentralized Administration of Crete.

Biodiversity and ecosystem services in the NATURA 2000 Network areas in Crete. Elisavet Georgopoulou PhD, Biologist, UoC-NHMC.

The impact and consequences of the absence of a spatial planning of the rural land. Dr. Alekos Stefanakis, Veterinarian, President GEOTEE-Branch of Crete.

The pdf files of the presentations and a text regarding “Environmental protection during the times of the economic crisis” are provided below (in Greek).