Αναντιστοιχία λόγων και έργων από την ΕΤΕπ στο θέμα Ερασίνου …

Εντοπίσαμε την έκδοση της ΕΤΕπ με τίτλο A blueprint for sustainable living
(eib_group_activity_report_2023_en)
 
Στη σελίδα 29 και υπό τον τίτλο «DESIGNS FOR A GREEN EUROPE»  υπάρχει το κείμενο που ακολουθεί:  

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WORKING WITH NATURE, NOT AGAINST IT

Nature-based solutions for flood mitigation in Greece

Powerful storms struck Thessaly in northern Greece causing severe flooding not once but twice in September 2023. “We were lucky that no one died during the second storm, because the first one completely wiped out our network of early warning sensors,” says Harry Kalliaras, an advisor to the mayor of Trikala, a city of about 80 000 in northwest Thessaly.

The storms destroyed 150 homes and severely damaged more than 1 000 in the city centre and nearby villages. After the second storm, life in the 3 000-year-old city ground to a halt for days as authorities ordered residents to stay indoors and inspected the safety of the city’s 12 bridges across the Lithaios river. The cost to the region, known as the breadbasket of Greece, is already estimated in the billions.

Thessaly is no stranger to floods. Large-scale construction to canalise rivers by building concrete embankments and dykes began in the 1930s and huge changes to the landscape continued until the 1970s with land reclamation. Now, however, the glaring failure of these approaches to protect against increasingly frequent extreme weather events caused by climate change is prompting the region to consider a dramatically different approach: removing the concrete and letting nature do its work. “I remember that 40 years ago there used to be basins near the river that retained floodwater,” says Kalliaras. “Since then, the approach has been to try to restrict the river and just block off the natural ways out that it used to use when there were floods and there’s been a lot of building close to the river. If these natural basins had still been there, it’s obvious that the damage to the town would have been less serious.”

That natural approach is the recommendation of a study financed by the European Investment Bank and led by Global Infrastructure Basel and WWF Greece, which was at the centre of discussions with stakeholders in 2023. “We need to work with nature, not against it,” says Aimilia Pistrika, a senior water engineer at the European Investment Bank.

Study pushes nature-based solutions in Greece According to the pilot study, nature-based approaches to flood management in the region, such as widening rivers and connecting them with their floodplains, creating riparian forests and removing structures built to control or obstruct the flow of rivers, would be far more efficient than relying on new or rehabilitated “grey” flood protection infrastructure, such as dykes.

According to the report, the carbon storage value of the nature-based approach alone, estimated at €12.8 million, would be larger than their cost of implementation (€6.8 million) and a hybrid approach (€9.3 million). Nature-based approaches to flood mitigation, however, face certain challenges. “The whole process takes time,” says Catherine McSweeney, who works in the European Investment Bank’s civil society division. “We’ve been organising outreach events and meetings with authorities and stakeholders for two years now. But we’ve learnt a lot on this project and believe that we’ve developed an approach that can be accelerated, scaled up and replicated elsewhere.”

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Οποία αντίφαση. Συμφωνεί η ΕΤΕπ στο ξεπάτωμα από το υπουργείο Υποδομών της Ελλάδος, του μικρού αρχαίου γλυκού ποταμού Ερασίνου το 2020. Γνωρίζει ότι τα σχέδια είναι παρωχημένα, όπως και η τεχνολογία, όλα τα κείμενα υποστήριξης του έργου πάσχουν υπερβολικά και παραβιάζουν την ευρωπαϊκή νομοθεσία, αλλά αποφασίζει να χρηματοδοτήσει το έργο. Δημιουργείται κίνημα αντιρρήσεων από πολίτες και φορείς και υστέρα από δύο έτη αγώνων, η ΕΤΕπ αναγνωρίζει το λάθος της. Ωστόσο ένα σχεδόν έτος αργότερα είναι άγνωστο το μέλλον του έργου, ενώ το υπουργείο Υποδομών υπογράφει νέες συμβάσεις, μετά τη χρεωκοπία του αρχικού εργολάβου. 

Το κείμενο που παρουσιάζεται στη ειδική έκδοση, μιλά για «Λύσεις Βασισμένες στη «Φύση» κάτι που το 2020 και ενώ ήταν γνωστή πολιτική της ΕΕ, αγνοήθηκε και παραβιάστηκε ασυστόλως, στην περίπτωση του Ερασίνου. 

Θα ενημερώσουμε και τους αρμοδίους φορείς στην Ελλάδα καθώς και το νέο εργολάβο, την ΙΝΤΡΑΚΑΤ. Ελπίζουμε ότι το έργο δε θα προχωρήσει και ο Ερασίνος θα γλυτώσει τη τραγική μοίρα που του επιφυλάσσει η κυβέρνηση της ΝΔ του επιτελικού πρωθυπουργού μας κ. Κυριάκου Μητσοτάκη.