Nature Conservation Law in Context: The Limited Influence of European Union and Greek Designations on the Future of Cavo Sidero, Crete

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Acknowledgments

Notes

See generally K. O’Neill, The Environment and International Relations (2009); G. Kütting, The Global Political Economy of the Environment and Tourism (2010).

Council Directive 79/409 on the conservation of wild birds, 1979 O.J. (L 103) 1 (consolidated with recent amendments as European Parliament and Council Directive 2009/147/EC on the conservation of wild birds, 2010 O.J. (L 20) 7).

Council Directive 92/43 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora, 1992 O.J. (L 206) 7.

Article 3(1) of the Habitats Directive, supra note 4, sets out substantive and procedural rules for the establishment of a “coherent European ecological network of special areas of conservation (SACs),” which together make up what is known as the Natura 2000 network of sites, along with the special protection areas (SPAs) classified under the 1979 Birds Directive, supra note 3. The Natura 2000 program maintains a presence on the Web at http://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/natura2000/index_en.htm (visited September 2011).

Greek Council of State Decision 3920/2010 (Athens, December 2010), Πϵριβαλλoντικαδϵιoδ τηση τoυριστικo oικισμo κατ παρβαση κατϵυθνσϵων τoυ oικϵoυ Πϵριϕϵρϵιακo Πλαισoυ XΣ.A.A. και χωρςσχϵδιασμ σϵ ϵππϵδo χρσϵων γης, published online on 4, Jan. 2011 at http://www.ste.gr/portal/page/portal/StE/ProsfatesApofaseis#a162 (visited 10 January 2011). Regrettably, the Council of State does not publish English translations of its decisions. The Council of State is the supreme administrative court of Greece. The Council of State, the Supreme Civil and Criminal Court, and the Court of Audit, which has jurisdiction over the expenditure of national and local government agencies and other legal entities, are the highest courts in Greece. The Greek Constitution establishes two jurisdictions, the administrative and the civil/criminal, both of which are organized with courts of first instance (lower courts), courts of appeals (higher, appellate courts) and the Supreme Courts. The Council of State is at the top of the hierarchy for administrative courts, which decide all disputed matters of administrative law; money claims, the functions of the civil service, social security claims, public works’ and suppliers’ competitions, compensation claims against the State, and challenges to the legality of administrative acts in general.

Y. Apostolopoulos & S. Sonmez, Greek Tourism on the Brink: Restructuring or Stagnation and Decline?, in Mediterranean Tourism: Facets of Socioeconomic Development and Cultural Change 72–86 (Y. Apostolopoulos, P. Loukissas, & L. Leontidou eds., 2001).

H. Daly, Beyond Growth: The Economics of Sustainable Development (1996); T. Luke, Situating Knowledges, Spatializing Communities, Sizing Contradictions: The Politics of Globality, Locality, and Green Statism, in Environmental Governance: Power and Knowledge in a Local-Global World 13–37 (G. Kütting & R. Lipschutz eds., 2009).

On the way this plays out in various island communities, see generally Sustainable Tourism in Island Destinations (S. Graci & R. Dodds eds. 2010).

For an introduction to the geographical information system describing Natura 2000 sites in the member states of the EU, see http://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/natura2000/db_gis/index_en.htm (visited September 2011). Each site is given a reference number. One of the reference numbers for the Cavo Sidero peninsula is GR 4320006.

The other relevant reference number for Cavo Sidero is GR 4320009. Details about these sites and their attributes can be accessed from the searchable database cited supra note 10.

P. Tsartas, Tourism Development in Greek Insular and Coastal Areas: Sociocultural Changes and Policy Issues, 11 J. Sust. Tourism 116–132 (2003).

K. Andriotis, Tourism Planning and Development in Crete, 9 J. Sust. Tourism 298–316 (2001) at 301.

M. Kousis, Tourism and the Environment in Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily and Crete, in Mediterranean Islands and Sustainable Tourism Development 214–233 (D. Ioannides, Y. Apostolopoulos, & S. Sonmez eds. 2001).

H. Briassoulis, Crete: Endowed by Nature, Privileged by Geography, Threatened by Tourism? 11 J. Sust. Tourism 97–115 (2003) at 107–108.

E. Apostolopoulou & J. Pantis, Conceptual Gaps in the National Strategy for the Implementation of the European Natura 2000 Conservation Policy in Greece, 142 Biol. Cons. 221–237.

Natura Areas Lacking Protection, Kathimerini (English edition), Oct. 6, 2008.

This is a law designed as a result of Greece's entry into the European Community and requiring the preparation under some circumstances of environmental impact assessments (EIA) for development projects. A Special Environmental Study should precede a ministerial decision or a presidential decree to approve a development subject to assessment. Reviews of Greek implementation of the EIA process are critical of its quality. See I. Androulidakis & I. Karakassis, Evaluation of the EIA System Performance in Greece, Using Quality Indicators, 26 Envtl. Impact Assessment Rev. 242–256 (2006), and the literature cited therein.

Cavo Sidero could also be protected through designation as a Specially Protected Area of Mediterranean Importance (SPAMI) under the Specially Protected Areas Protocol of the Mediterranean Action Plan, a Mediterranean regional agreement that seeks to ensure sustainable development in the region. Its Protocol on Specially Protected Areas specifically aims to protect the biodiversity of the Mediterranean region through the establishment of lists of protected/endangered species, as well as lists of specially protected areas. However, to date the Greek government has not listed any specially protected areas under the protocol and the implementation record of the Mediterranean Action Plan generally also shows that it is not a particularly effective policy tool when it comes to environmental improvement. G. Kütting, Conflict and Cooperation in the Mediterranean: MAP from 1975 to Today, in Beyond Resource Wars: Scarcity, Degradation, and International Cooperation (S. Dinar ed., 2011). However, similar criticisms have been made of the Natura 2000 network in P. Dimitrakopoulos et al., Local Attitudes on Protected Areas: Evidence from Three Natura 2000 Wetland Sites in Greece, 91 J. Envtl. Mgmt. 1847–1854 (2004).

The argument has been made, however, that the Abbot's intentions were consistent with the spirit of sustainable development. P. N. Kontemeniotis, The contract between the charitable foundation Panaghia Akrotiriani and the English company Loyalward Limited on the proposed tourist development in the Cavo Sidero area of the municipality of Itanos, Lasithi, Crete (unpublished legal briefing paper, Athens, 2007). Copy on file with the author.

Id. Part of the problem had to do with the stock market listing of the company, which could not list itself in the most suitable market until Greek red tape had been cut. The Greek government was slow in granting all the licenses but in 2007 gave the green light for development. Shortly thereafter the Kempinski group announced with Minoan that they were going to run one of the hotels in the zone (http://www.minoangroup.com/news.htm (visited October 2008). This announcement helped Minoan move up to a better trading market. However, trading in the right market is only one problem for Minoan. The other is to convince investors that this is a viable project that will get approval from the Greek government. In fact, Minoan's spin on the Greek Council of State's decision in late 2010 is that the ruling against the existing proposal for development has shifted red tape and has clarified the correct planning application procedure for moving forward on a fast track (http://uk.ibtimes.com/articles/20101203/minoan-welcomes-end-to-cavo-sidero-project-impasse.htm (visited Dec. 23, 2010).

K. Andriotis, Integrated Resort Development: The Case of Cavo Sidero, Crete, 16 J. Sust. Tourism 428–444 (2008).

H. Briassoulis, Golf-Centered Development in Coastal Mediterranean Europe: A Soft Sustainability Test, 15 J. Sust. Tourism 441–462 (2007); H. Briassoulis, Sorry Golfers, This Is Not Your Spot: Exploring Public Opposition to Golf Development, 34 J. Sport Soc. Issues 288–311 (2010).

K. Papageorgious & I. Vogiatzakis, Nature Protection In Greece: An Appraisal of the Factors Shaping Integrative Conservation and Policy Effectiveness, 9 Envtl. Sci. Pol’y 476–486 (2006); T. Hovardas, K. Korfiatis, & J. Pantis, Environmental Representations of Local Communities’ Spokespersons in Protected Areas, 19 J. Comm. Applied Soc. Psych. 459–472 (2009); Dimitrakopoulos et al., supra note 19.

Andriotis, supra note 22.

Harsh Course of Nature, The Guardian (Society Guardian), Mar. 5, 2008, at 8; U.K. Firm Plans Vast Resort on Fragile Coast, The Guardian, 5 Mar. 2008 at 24.

Author's translation of field interview, 7 Oct. 2008.

Item appearing on the Minoan Group's website at http://www.minoan.com (visited October 2008).

The authors of the standard work on the development of the Cretan landscape, O. Rackham & J. Moody, The Making of the Cretan Landscape (1996).

U.K. Firm Plans Vast Resort on Fragile Coast, The Guardian, 5 Mar. 2008 at 24.

Briassoulis (2010), supra note 23.

Kontemeniotis, supra note 20.

Id.

Greece Opens Tourist Sector to Foreign Investors, Financial Times, 9 Nov. 2006, at 6.

Id.

Jonathan Porritt and Sara Parkin are environmentalists who are among the most visible faces of the Green Party, which has risen from political obscurity in Britain in the early 1970s to the phenomenal achievement of 15 percent of the vote in the 1989 European Parliament elections. They continued to be highly visible politically in the 1990s until they founded Forum for the Future.

Available at http://www.forumforthefuture.org/node/1410 (visited September 2011).

Field interview by the author, 22 Oct. 2008.

Id.

Id.

A. Mol, Globalization and Environmental Reform: The Ecological Modernization of the Global Economy (2001).

Andriotis, supra note 22; Briassoulis, supra note 23.

Mani is an arid area in the southeastern Peloponnese famous for the conversion of former watchtowers and castles into high-end tourist accommodations.

Paradise Found: Guiding Principles for a Sustainable Tourism Development (September 2008) at 11. Issued by Forum for the Future and available at http://www.forumforthefuture.org/files/paradise-found-web.pdf (visited September 2011).

The relevant literature has been reviewed by Briassoulis, supra note 23. Moreover, the area has already had one financial disaster in tourism at the Dionysos Village Hotel. This is essentially a town house development at the entrance to the Cavo Sidero peninsula, with a financial structure similar to that proposed by Minoan. In this instance, the mother company defaulted and the resort basically collapsed, leaving only some of the town houses inhabited. Local people are understandably wary of a repeat performance.

The suggestion that Cavo Sidero can be the basis for sustainable employment seems equally implausible when assessed against local conditions. FFF argued that Minoan had been in discussions with local education providers in Crete to ensure that a suitable local labor force would be available. But this was not actually a salient issue for Minoan, who would not build or operate the resort. Moreover, employees in the tourism sector—even on Crete, where the season is the longest in Greece—work for only some months in the year and do not, therefore, have comprehensive social insurance. In the months when they do not work, they need to be able to draw benefits. The workforce in Greece is in general highly educated, with a high number of college graduates and advanced degree holders. To be a sustainable basis for employment for people who live in Greece, including Crete, Cavo Sidero would need to generate year-round employment for a workforce quite different from that usually associated with the hotel, resort, and tourism sectors in the Mediterranean. But neither FFF nor its client seems to have appreciated this.

S. Elworthy & J. Holder, Environmental Protection: Text and Materials, Ch. 11, Room for the Geese: Conservation and Designation, 422–462 (1997).

B. Beijen, The Implementation of Area Protection Provisions from European Environmental Directives in the Member States, 5 Utrecht L. Rev. 101–116 (2009); Environment: Commission Calls for Shakeup in EU Biodiversity Policy, 12 J. Int’l Wildlife L. & Pol’y 281–288 (2009); A. Hildering, A. Kessen, & F. van Rijswick, Tackling Pollution of the Mediterranean Sea Land-Based Sources by an Integrated Ecosystem Approach and the Use of the Combined International and European Regimes, 5 Utrecht L. Rev. 80–100 (2009); A. Dodd et al., Protected Areas and Climate Change: Reflections from a Practitioner's Perspective, 6 Utrecht L. Rev. 141–150 (2010).

Hovardas et al., supra note 24.

Kousis, supra note 13; D. H. Close, Environmental Crisis in Greece and Recent Challenges to Centralized State Authority, 11 J. Mod. Greek Stud. 325–352 (1999).

Minoan, London Stock Exchange Market News, 3 Dec. 2010.

Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, Rutgers the State University of New Jersey, Newark, NJ 07102, USA. [email protected]. The author wishes to thank Eleni Briassoulis and Maria Kousis for their help in finding documentary sources, and Dimitris Stevis for his invaluable help with translation of a Greek Council of State Decision. Fieldwork support was provided by the Rutgers University Research Council.