Greece

% of land, % of marine waters are covered by protected areas.
species and habitats are protected under EU law

Greece consists of a mountainous peninsula mainland with a large number of islands. It has n terrestrial area of close to 132 000 km² and a marine area close to 114 000 km². bordered by 4 other countries. The highest point is Mount Olympus at 2 917m. Greece has a population of 10.7 million people and a population density of 82.5 people per km².

Protected areas

% of land

% of marine waters

There are a total of protected areas in Greece, Natura 2000 sites - Special Protection Areas (Birds Directive) and Sites of Community Importance (Habitat Directive) - as well as sites designated under national laws.

% of the network is protected only through national laws

% of the network consists solely of Natura 2000 sites

% consist of and overlap between the two.

The average size of protected areas in Europe is lower compared to other regions of the world. This largely reflects the high degree of fragmentation of the land in Europe due to urbanisation, infrastructure and general intensification of land use. At a EU level 50% of protected areas have an area of less than 1 km². The 10 largest marine sites account for 68% of the marine area, while the 10 largest land sites account for 41% of the land area covered by protected areas

Size distribution of Greece's land protected areas network

Size distribution of Greece's marine protected areas network

Natura 2000 sites in Greece cover species and habitats from the nature directives. The number of species and habitats protected in each site varies depending on the location of the site, the biodiversity in the region, the designation being used, and the features the site is being created to protect. For sites there is only 1 feature being protected with sites having more than 20 features.

Protected species

Species protected in Greece under EU law are protected under the Habitats Directive and under the Birds Directive. The Habitats Directive has a total of 2 500 species on its list, the Birds Directive has a total of 500 species of wild birds protected.

species protected under EU law in Greece

species are unique to Greece

species under the Habitats Directive

species under the Birds Directive

Conservation status: Habitats Directive

% of species are considered to be Good

% of species are considered to be Poor

% of species are considered to be Bad

% of species are considered to be Unknown

Conservation Status by Taxa

Protected species composition by Taxa

Protected habitats

Habitats protected in Greece under EU law are protected under the Habitats Directive. The Habitats Directive has a total of 233 habitats on its list.

habitats protected under EU law in Greece.

Conservation status: Habitats Directive

% of habitats are considered to be Good

% of habitats are considered to be Poor

% of habitats are considered to be Bad

% of habitats are considered to be Unknown

Conservation Status by Group

Habitat composition by Group

Ecosystems

Policy

MAES in Greece:

Green infrastructure in Greece:

The Ministry of Environment & Energy is responsible for environmental policy, the preparation of plans and programmes, and overseeing their implementation. The Ministry is also in charge of the transposition of EU environmental Directives into national law. At the decentralised level, the regional and municipal authorities exercise, within their areas, certain environmental competences and assure the practical application of various environmental measures (e.g. water quality, waste management, impact assessment).

National Biodiversity strategy for Greece:

To report on progress to the EU 2020 biodiversity strategy, the European Commission extracted relevant information from the EU Member States’ 5^th national reports to the CBD. Of the 5 countries which had not finalized their national reports at the time of the synthesis (26^th of August 2015), Greece, Malta, Portugal and Lithuania provided information to be included in the synthesis.