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.
