Illegality became normality in M. Papigo

“More than two years have passed since a multitude of complaints, appeals and publicity on behalf of residents, environmental organizations, print and electronic media, as well as MPs and MEPs, about the lawlessness and destruction of the environment in the traditional settlement of Papigo, in one of the most iconic protected areas of the country.

In the pile of arbitrariness for the construction of a residence outside the boundaries of the settlement and within the Core of the National Park, new, unauthorized interventions by other landowners were added. Clearly, the failure of the authorities to enforce legality has sent the message that lawlessness can continue and expand with impunity!”

This is what 8 environmental organizations emphasize in a joint letter. The letter is signed by ANIMA, Association for the Protection and Care of Wildlife, Hellenic Society for the Protection of Nature, Hellenic Ornithological Society, Chamber of Environment and Sustainability, KALLISTO, Environmental Organization for Wildlife and Nature, Mediterranean Institute for Nature and Man (MedINA ), Association of Citizens in favor of Streams “ROH”, Environmental Protection Association of Ioannina.

With their joint letter of 9/2/2024 to every competent authority and agency, the co-signatory environmental organizations inform in every detail, photos and evidence, of the unacceptable situation that has developed in an area that should be strictly protected and which , in fact, only a few months ago, it acquired the designation of a world monument, through the registration of Zagori in the relevant UNESCO List.

They once again publicly call on all decision-makers, especially the government and the judiciary, for the immediate enforcement of protective legislation and the exemplary restoration of the natural and cultural environment. The following bodies have received the letter a) Municipality of Ioannina/YDOM, b) Northern Pindos National Park Management Unit/OFYPECA, c) Ioannina First Instance Prosecutor’s Office, d) Ioannina Appeals Prosecutor’s Office, e) Zagori Police Department, f) Konitsa Forestry Department, g) Directorate of Forests of Ioannina, h) Municipality of Zagori, i) Municipality of Zagori/Local Community of Papigo and notified to the Ministry of Culture/Directorate of Newer Cultural Heritage, the Vikos-Aou Geopark, etc.

The letter specifically states:

Following previous complaints, press releases, court appearances, legal actions and our reports to every competent agency and authority as well as significant publicity, we are in the particularly unpleasant position of informing you for the umpteenth time that the injustice, at the expense of the National Park, of of the adjacent highly protected traditional settlement of Papigo and the World Heritage Site of Zagori, not only has it not been dealt with in the least, but is ongoing with new destructive interventions.

In particular, in the agroforestry area south of Megalo Papigos, outside its residential limits and within the Nature Protection Area (Pyrinas – Vikos Department), in addition to the scattered unauthorized interventions of recent years, which we will refer to below, we point out that on the one hand the illegal construction activity of erecting a large complex of private houses, with a series of accompanying, also unauthorized activities, continues, on the other hand, these days a new unauthorized construction activity is taking place with the construction of a building made of cement blocks, next to existing livestock facilities. We note that the construction is also incompatible with the P.D. Zagori, from a morphological and aesthetic point of view.

According to KYA 23069 “Characterization of the land area of ​​the mountainous volumes of N. Pindos as a National Park, determination of protection zones and determination of uses, conditions and building restrictions” (Government Gazette 639/t. D/14-6-05), in the Area Nature Protection Areas, such as this area of ​​Zone Ia of the Park, only very specific activities are allowed, such as daily visits exclusively on foot and after a permit, or the uses of agriculture and arboriculture with biological methods in existing units, or extensive animal husbandry in management status. Building, opening or widening of roads, vehicle crossings outside the management framework, destruction of plant hedges and land clearing are expressly prohibited. excluding any other activity that opposes the purposes of nature protection.

The official declarations and recognitions, such as the National Forest, the National Park, the UNESCO Geopark, as a Place of Special Natural Beauty, the inclusion in two Natura areas and the recent registration of Zagori in the World Heritage Sites, must be accompanied by substantial protection measures and guarding the protected area.

However, as long as this does not happen, then the continuous promotion and prominence of the areas, and the increasing pressure for residential and touristic development, can lead to large-scale unauthorized interventions.

In the attached presentation file, an effort was made to collect and illustrate the most important of these interventions in recent years, with the current building activity to which we have referred many times with the aim of avoiding even greater degradation of this precious area. Buildings that are obviously later than the declaration of the Park, they are almost in contact with the nearest branch of Haradra to Vikos which carries an array of rock roofs of great geological and ecological importance, as a habitat for rare species of wild birds.

We also note that corresponding significant, continuous and months-long disturbance is observed not only from the construction activity of the private housing complex and the incessant passage of vehicles, especially heavy-duty ones, but also from the unauthorized installation of particularly intense night lighting on the construction site as well as from the non- permitted continuous presence and overnight stay of a private security crew, within the strictly protected area of ​​the Core.

Finally, we note that, for the wild fauna and especially for the birds, whose habitat, as mentioned above, is the area, the above activities are harmful actions and are anything but consistent with the protection mandated by the institution of the National Park.

We request your immediate actions to stop the unauthorized activities, hold individuals and administrators responsible for not preventing them, and restore the environment by informing us.