Ioli Christopoulou participated as a speaker at the first National Workshop “Towards Free Flowing Rivers in Greece”, organized by MedINA.
In her presentation, she focused on the implementation of the new EU Regulation on Nature Restoration and the opportunities and challenges it presents for Greece. The country begins this journey with a relative advantage, as it already set binding targets for nature restoration in 2023. Compared to the EU-27, the condition of freshwater ecosystems in Greece is better.
However, the experience of implementing environmental legislation in the country so far has not been encouraging. Nevertheless, with the milestone being the submission of the draft National Nature Restoration Plan in September 2026, Greece has the opportunity to turn past mistakes into lessons. A significant contribution to this direction is the growing academic and scientific interest and the improved knowledge being generated about the ecosystems to be restored. Pilot projects and trial applications are already being implemented that can assist the country in preparing the National Plan.
Concluding her speech, she referred to the decision to protect part of the catchment area of the Aoos River to maintain the free flow of the river, its tributaries, and streams as a step in the right direction, as it ensures the preservation of a unique ecosystem.
The national workshop was attended by representatives from the Ministry of Environment and Energy, NECCA, researchers from HCMR, engineers, international experts, civil society organizations, and concerned citizens. Presentations were made, among others, by Laura Wildman (Save the Sound, USA), Benoît Terrier (Rhône-Corsica Water Agency), Professor Steven Weiss (University of Graz, Austria), Irene Duque (Wetlands International Europe, Belgium), Stamatios Zogaris and Stergios Lagogiannis (HCMR), and lawyer Giorgos Politis.
The National Workshop “Towards Free Flowing Rivers in Greece” was organized by MedINA on April 2-3, 2025.