Reviewing Two Distant OECD Environmental Performance Reports for Greece: What Progress?

When the first OECD Environmental Performance Review of Greece was published in 1983, the great challenge for the Greek Government was to respond to the pressures on the natural resources and the environment resulting from the rapid economic growth, which started in the 1970s, and the consequent expansion of a number of potentially heavy polluting industries. Almost thirty years later, the latest OECD Review, the 2009 OECD Environmental Performance Review of Greece[1], proves that not only little has been done by the consecutive Greek Governments since then, but also, major warnings have been systematically ignored.

The 1983 OECD Environmental Policies in Greece Review focused on the challenges and opportunities in the environment in Greece, regional and urban policies, air management policies, water management policies, noise abatement policies, chemicals control policies, soil and forestry practices, nature conservation policies, monuments and cultural heritage and tourism. Respectively, the 2009 OECD Environmental Performance Review of Greece offers a thorough analysis of Greece’s progress since the previous OECD Environmental Performance Review in 2000, focusing, in particular, on the extent to which Greece has met its domestic objectives and international commitments on air and water management, nature conservation, environment-economy integration and environment-social integration, and international cooperation, including climate change.

The 1983 OECD Review acknowledged the Greek Government’s steps to strengthen environmental laws and institutions, improve the enforcement of laws and regulations and introduce public participation in urban planning. It laid emphasis on the opportunity to pursue a policy of prevention of the heavy and future costs resulting from the industrial development, which then was at an early stage. Environmental awareness and competent manpower were issues to be developed. The Review, considering the  Greek Government’s commitment to adopt an active regional policy and a decentralisation strategy, assumed that the population’s over-concentration and the economic activity in Athens and Thessaloniki were unlikely to be as persistent in the future as they have been in the past, and it only recommended a control on the location of industrial development, legalization of unauthorized development and registration of the land-ownership. It called the Greek Government to radically face the cities’ high densities, the traffic congestions, the air pollution and noise and it forecasted that these problems would impose high future costs on the Greek economy. Finally, the Review, taking into account that tourism had been increased by 170% in the 1970s, recommended that an orderly development should be pursued to minimise potential environmental impacts[2].

Almost thirty years later, according to the 2009 OECD Report, the Achilles’ heel of Greek environmental and land-use policy implementation, is its weak enforcement[3].  The Review acknowledges the establishment of the Hellenic Environmental Inspectorate, but also warns that the Greek Government is required to provide it with capacity and instruments, in order to strengthen the country’s compliance assurance system. Overall, the environmental administration at central and local levels needs to be reinforced. The Review further underlines that Greece fails to produce reports on the state of the environment on a regular basis. Environmental information, awareness and public participation should be improved, since local opposition to infrastructure development (such as renewable energy plants or legal/sanitary landfills) can often be very strong and it has led to numerous and frustrating legal actions and abandonment of projects. Since the country’s first national strategic spatial plan in late 1990s (the General Framework), and although strategic regional framework plans have been adopted, spontaneous urbanisation has continued. Construction often precedes planning, tourism development exerts pressure on land-use and coastal ecosystems, and the land ownership is highly fragmented. Administrative procedures associated with environmental impact assessments and planning and building permits are very complex, sometimes confusing and time-consuming, control of building and housing construction is distinctly inefficient and, finally, the country lacks a complete national cadastre, which should be a top priority[4].

Back in 1983, one of the major problems in Greece, was the quality of the air in Athens[5], due to the industry and the power generation. The 1983 OECD Report therefore made a series of important recommendations: development and effective implementation of air pollution abatement legislation, precise definition of the objectives for air pollution control, creation of an up-to-date inventory of the sources of air pollutants, harmonization of noise abatement and chemicals control policies, with the EEC standards, traffic management, setting stricter emission standards for automobiles, and, lastly, shift to less polluting fuels and public transport and encouragement to use bicycles[6].

The 2009 OECD Report notes that Greece, through important legislative and institutional steps, is on track to meet the Kyoto Protocol target of limiting the increase of  greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions to +25%, from the 2009 level by 2008-2012. In spite of that, the CO2 emissions per capita have considerably increased and exceed the OECD Europe average. Another target that Greece should have, according to the Report, is the improvement of the efficiency of electricity generation and the promotion of the shift towards cleaner fuels, since the energy supply remains dominated by coal and oil (about 85%), and the electricity output from renewable sources in 2007 was accounted for nearly 7% of gross electricity consumption, still far from the 2010 EU indicative target of 20%. Greece should consider reviewing the structure and levels of prices to encourage more rational energy use, with a view to progressively eliminating exemptions and subsidies. Also it should review road tolls, and fuel and vehicle taxes to improve environmental performance and fuel efficiency of transport activities. The Review warns that urban population exposure to suspended particulate matter and ground-level ozone remains among the highest in Europe, as Greece is home to some of the most polluting power plants in the EU, due the dominance of domestic lignite and oil in the fuel mix. Therefore, greater efforts are needed to monitor concentrations of pollutants in ambient air and to ensure that the air quality limit values are met, in order to avert high health risks and social costs[7].

As far as water management concerns, in 1983, Greece had the largest supply of fresh water per inhabitant of all OECD Mediterranean countries. The 1983 OECD Report indicated that the Greek government is required to provide water connections and year-round supplies to everyone, networks, purifications treatment systems and consolidated water management system so as to prevent conflicts between consumption for irrigation, industry and domestic purposes. In order to ensure water conservation and efficiency, existing water pricing schemes should be reassessed. The Report underlined that industrial discharges and untreated municipal wastes polluted inland and coastal waters and that measures must be taken to ensure that ships in Greek waters meet internationally required standards. Finally, bilateral and multilateral cooperation was advised for the protection and equitable use of international water resources. Referring to soil and forestry practices, the Report noted that deforestation, forest fires, overgrazing, surface mining, historic patterns of land ownership and cultivation on marginal and sub-marginal lands have led to erosion and soil degradation[8]. The Report estimated that a map and inventory of Greek soils and forests would take about ten years to be completed and it therefore recommended an acceleration of the procedure[9].

The 2009 OECD Review, regarding water quality and wastewater, explains that Greece has experienced severe delays in implementing the EU Urban Wastewater Directive and wastewater management, and that control discharges from intensive agricultural and industrial activities is inadequate. Implementing a national irrigation policy, should also be top priority, as the use for irrigation is substantially above recharge rates and the agricultural water prices are low, which leads to insufficient conservation incentives. The Report highly recommends improvement of the wastewater management, in compliance with the EU Urban Waste Water Directive, reduction of water pollution by dangerous substances and illegal discharges of wastewater, as well as improvement of the allocation of water to ensure water flows to the highest-value uses[10]. Finally, the Report finds that the national forest registry is still incomplete, which often leads to the devastating forest fires.

The 1983 OECD Report suggested the development of a national conservation strategy to provide a clear and sound management of conservation areas and reinforcement of the implementation of the relevant legislation. In addition, education campaigns, cooperation with non-governmental organisations and ratification of international conventions related to nature conservation[11] should be the next steps of the Greek government.

Thirty years later, the 2009 OECD Review persists on recommending that Greece should, at the earliest opportunity, adopt a National Biodiversity Strategy in order to establish a comprehensive action-oriented framework for ecosystem and species conservation and overcome the overlapping and coordination problems between the existing bodies in charge, as well as review how the biodiversity management is financed. Greece should continue to extend the protected areas, complete the implementation of the Natura 2000 network and increase and disseminate knowledge on the conservation status of species. Finally, there should be an improvement on the integration of biodiversity concerns into the agricultural sector[12].

The 1983 OECD Review recommended that measures should be taken for the protection of the integrity of the antiquities themselves and their surroundings. More specifically, Greece should control the development of archaeological sites, take measures for avoiding damage from earthquakes, mass visiting and air pollution and, lastly, offer incentives for compatible alternative use of post-classical buildings and traditional settlements, coupled with attractive sources of rehabilitation finance[13]. On the other hand, the 2009 OECD Review does not specifically deal with the protection of the antiquities but it focuses on the international cooperation. In a rather extensive section, the Review finds that while Greece’s performance is markedly improved in the past years, the country needs to intensify its efforts to comply with EU environmental legislation. Greece should be a leader within the IMO-ILO-UNEP framework on environmentally sound shipbreaking, expand its cooperation with neighbouring countries on the environmental management of transboundary waters, and continue the efforts for the protection of water quality in near shore marine areas and bays. The Review also underlines that Greece is required to strengthen customs inspection and enforcement capacity (expanded staff, improved training, better technology) in order to control illegal trade in endangered species, ozone depleting substances and hazardous waste[14].
The Review finally recommends that a green fiscal reform should be part of the Greek response to its economic crisis and it should fully implement the “polluter-pays” and “user-pays” principles[15].

Summing up, Greece has achieved a certain level of progress in environmental protection, especially during the last decade, such as implementation of national and EU legislation, as well as enhanced participation in international cooperation activities. However, Greek Governments have systematically ignored the OECD and EU warnings. Throughout these thirty years, economic growth has led to increased degradation of some coastal zones and islands, increasing air emissions from electricity generation, high material intensification and excessive use of irrigation water. Of course, Environmental Law is constantly developing (new EU environmental legislation and theory) and so are the OECD guidelines and EU demands to Greece. But, as indicated above, there have been many warnings over the past thirty years, which were and still are ignored and which have led to the degradation of the environment of Greece. A national cadastre, a national forest registry and a national conservation strategy are not only still uncompleted, but Greece needs to come a long way to complete them. The warnings in 1983 that it would take almost a decade to be completed and Greece needed to accelerate now sound more than prophetical. Correspondingly, the Greek government did not succeed in adopting an active and effective regional policy, which would lead to a development of the economic activity away from the capital city. All in all, Greece should make serious efforts to overcome the many mistakes and omissions of the past in order to save its unique natural and cultural heritage and achieve environmental convergence within the OECD and the EU.

Endnotes

1. For further information see  www.oecd.org/env/countryreviews/greece
2. OECD (1983), Environmental Policies in Greece, Paris 1983, pp. 17, 18-24, 30, 32-33, 117-126
3. OECD (2009), Environmental  Performance Review, Greece, p. 16
4. Ibid., pp. 182-187, 192-193, 204, 206-207, 210-211
5. Notable is the use of the Greek word “nephos” in the English text of the Review, as the big cloud in Athens.
6. OECD (1983), supra n. 2, pp. 34-42, 44-45, 53-54, 46-49, 54, 72-84
7. OECD (2009), supra n. 3, pp. 37-42, 45, 49-52, 60
8. It was estimated that around 300.000 hectares were affected by salinization. OECD (1983), supra n. 2, pp. 85-96
9. OECD (1983), supra n. 2, pp. 55-60, 66-67, 69-71, 95
10. OECD (2009), supra n. 3, pp. 68-69, 75-80, 83, 87-89
11. OECD (1983), supra n. 2, pp. 97, 101, 103-107
12. OECD (2009), supra n. 3, pp. 23, 96-97, 103-110, 112-114
13. OECD (1983), supra n. 2, pp. 109-116
14. OECD (2009), supra n. 3, Greece, pp. 222-223
15. Ibid., p. 17

About the author

Kyriaki Monezi

Lawyer, MEPIELAN Centre Researcher, Panteion University of Athens, Greece

• Kyriaki Monezi

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  February 22, 2012

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