Over 60.000 signatures and many complaint letters prevented the adoption of many provisions of a bill of the Greek government on forests. This bill is considered to be catastrophic for greek forests from all environmental organizations.

The signatures were collected with the initiative of the WWF Greece and the international organization AVAAZ.
https://secure.avaaz.org/el/save_greek_forests_new_txt/?tDvxGgb

Indicatively I will mention some provisions that were finally rejected (NOT voted).

1. Buildings can be built on burned forest areas, if in a period of 5 years the vegetation has not recovered.

Here I have to mention that burned forests, according to today's legislation are under complete protection of the state, which is obliged to afforest them. The new provision will create important motivation for the burned forest areas not being afforested, so that they can be used for real estate development, agriculture or farms, at the expense of the environment.

2. Forest maps may be reconsidered even after their finalization

Today, forest maps in Greece are definite and changes are not allowed after their official publication plus one more year offered for objections. Note that forest maps (which describe where forest exist and must remain) cover still a small area of the Greek forests. There was a delay for the construction of those maps, mostly by reactions because the preservation of forests does not allow other kinds of exploitation.

3. The areas which were burn in 1975 should no longer be considered forests

Every summer there are fires in many Greek forests. Many of these fires have natural causes, but many of them are acts of arson, so that in the future there will be a change in the use of those areas. This reconsideration is in favor of those who illegally burned and then prevented the afforestation, and will continue to downgrade the world's oxygen stores, leading to global warming.

4. Fine payments for the construction of illegal buildings into the forests and decisions of demolishing them are postponed.

We all understand that the interests on the encroachment of forests are great. Only with determination, but also with justice we can stop this continuous overexploitation of forests and protect the environment.

The bill came in the parliament as ''urgency'', a few days only before parliament's term would finish. However, the immediate reaction of tenths of thousands people convinced even the members of the current government to threaten to reject this law, without serious changes being done.

The citizens should always be alert. The sensitivity of the public eye for environmental issues has greatly increased.
Awareness, personal involvement and justified responses to existing problems, may fuel the race for the protection of the environment and against the climate change.