Greece to spend €780m to protect marine biodiversity, PM says

Greece is pushing ahead with 21 initiatives worth €780m ( about R1.6-trillion) to protect marine biodiversity and tackle coastal pollution, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Monday ahead of an international conference.

The country, which includes thousands of islands and has the longest Mediterranean coastline of any littoral state, said last week it plans to create two marine parks, one in the Ionian Sea and one in the Aegean Sea, as part of the initiatives.

"Quietly but methodically, Greece is playing a leading role in the defence against dramatic climate changes, which are proven to affect every region and every activity," Mitsotakis said in an article published in Kathimerini newspaper.

Greece plans to present its national strategy on marine biodiversity protection at the "Our Ocean" conference, which Athens will host this year and which will be attended by dozens of countries.

The EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service said last month ocean temperatures hit a record high in February, in a dataset that goes back to 1979. Overfishing and plastic pollution are also major threats to oceans.

Plastics entering the world's oceans could nearly triple by 2040 if no further action is taken, research has shown.

The Greek marine parks, whose boundaries will be defined after scientific research by early 2025, will cover 32% of Greece's waters, Mitsotakis said.

The plan for a marine park in the Aegean Sea has irritated neighbouring Turkey, which said last week it was not willing to accept a possible "fait accompli on geographical features whose status is disputed". In response, Greece accused Turkey of "politicising a purely environmental issue".

Nato allies Greece and Turkey have long been at odds over issues including maritime boundaries and claims over their continental shelves in the Mediterranean.

Mitsotakis said other initiatives under way include:

• campaigns to curb plastic pollution;
• setting up a monitoring system for protected marine areas because fishing practices that damage the seabed will be prohibited; and
• constructing charging stations at 12 ports for electric vessels.

Protecting the sea, he said, is one of the four pillars of Greece's strategy against climate change.

Reuters