112 Ecology and Applied Environmental Science
However, the intense developmental trends of the last decades have created
increased pressures on the coastal environment and have initiated a rapid
degradation process in many cases.
In countries where the inland consists of massifs, deserts or other tracts
unsuitable for intensive development and when there are no other inhibiting
factors, like piracy, the coasts play a dominant role in economic and social
development. In Greece, this spatial phenomenon has appeared to a great
extent since the 19th century and has intensified especially after 1950; as a
result, the coasts have developed into its most important economic resource.
It is estimated that more than 70% of the Greek population, 80% of
industry, 90% of tourism, a large part of high productivity agricultural land
row coastal zone. The antagonistic uses and the impacts of all those activities exert significant pressures on the coastal environment; they threaten
certain rare biological species, some sensitive biotopes and many landscapes
with significant aesthetic value. The qualitative condition of coastal water
and the atmosphere, the ecological balance of many coastal ecosystems, and
the touristic value of a large part of the coasts are also under threat.
A characteristic activity that decisively degrades both the biotopes and the
natural scenery of the coasts is haphazard land use. Land use conflicts in the
narrow coastal zones are extremely intense. The major pressures for land use
change are connected with residential development, tourist infrastructure
and extension of agricultural cultivations, and less often with industrial facilities, aquacultures and livestock farming or recreation activities. Pressures
are exerted on natural ecosystems, usually seashore forests, brushes and
wetlands or on agricultural land that is not intensively cultivated. A significant percentage of the coastal natural landscape is taken up by vacation
settlements, rooms to let, free camping spaces, coastal dust roads etc.
The most effective tool used for the change of use of the coastal forest land
is arson. Successive fires, often accompanied by grazing of the burned areas,
constitute one of the major mechanisms that change the natural landscape,
destroying coastal vegetation. Various drainage works, by which farming or
other activities take up natural expanses of large and small coastal wetlands,
have a similar result.
5.5.4.3 Sites of Outstanding Beauty
Nature’s wealth is manifested with the presence of great biodiversity. The
numerous combinations of ecological parameters create many different types
of habitats, and consequently an extraordinary variety of flora and fauna,
significant biotopes and natural landscapes. The number of places that have
great value as biotopes or natural landscapes reaches several thousand and
includes forests, wetlands, coasts, islands and rocky islets, alpine regions,
screes, rivers, lakes, ravines, springs, caves etc. There is also an exceptional
However, the intense developmental trends of the last decades have created
increased pressures on the coastal environment and have initiated a rapid
degradation process in many cases.
In countries where the inland consists of massifs, deserts or other tracts
unsuitable for intensive development and when there are no other inhibiting
factors, like piracy, the coasts play a dominant role in economic and social
development. In Greece, this spatial phenomenon has appeared to a great
extent since the 19th century and has intensified especially after 1950; as a
result, the coasts have developed into its most important economic resource.
It is estimated that more than 70% of the Greek population, 80% of
industry, 90% of tourism, a large part of high productivity agricultural land
row coastal zone. The antagonistic uses and the impacts of all those activities exert significant pressures on the coastal environment; they threaten
certain rare biological species, some sensitive biotopes and many landscapes
with significant aesthetic value. The qualitative condition of coastal water
and the atmosphere, the ecological balance of many coastal ecosystems, and
the touristic value of a large part of the coasts are also under threat.
A characteristic activity that decisively degrades both the biotopes and the
natural scenery of the coasts is haphazard land use. Land use conflicts in the
narrow coastal zones are extremely intense. The major pressures for land use
change are connected with residential development, tourist infrastructure
and extension of agricultural cultivations, and less often with industrial facilities, aquacultures and livestock farming or recreation activities. Pressures
are exerted on natural ecosystems, usually seashore forests, brushes and
wetlands or on agricultural land that is not intensively cultivated. A significant percentage of the coastal natural landscape is taken up by vacation
settlements, rooms to let, free camping spaces, coastal dust roads etc.
The most effective tool used for the change of use of the coastal forest land
is arson. Successive fires, often accompanied by grazing of the burned areas,
constitute one of the major mechanisms that change the natural landscape,
destroying coastal vegetation. Various drainage works, by which farming or
other activities take up natural expanses of large and small coastal wetlands,
have a similar result.
5.5.4.3 Sites of Outstanding Beauty
Nature’s wealth is manifested with the presence of great biodiversity. The
numerous combinations of ecological parameters create many different types
of habitats, and consequently an extraordinary variety of flora and fauna,
significant biotopes and natural landscapes. The number of places that have
great value as biotopes or natural landscapes reaches several thousand and
includes forests, wetlands, coasts, islands and rocky islets, alpine regions,
screes, rivers, lakes, ravines, springs, caves etc. There is also an exceptional