Eleven environmental and animal protection groups in Greece announced that they had joined forces to set up the Wildlife Alliance for the conservation and protection of the country’s biodiversity.
The initiative, to operate with the support and involvement of WWF Greece, includes ANIMA, Archelon – The Sea Turtle Protection Society, Callisto, the Hellenic Ornithological Society, the Biodiversity Protection Society of Thrace, the Prespa Protection Society, the Institute of Speleological Research of Greece, iSea, MEDASSET, and the Tethys Research Institute.
According to the statement, the new Wildlife Alliance of Greece brings together experts in several fields as well as decades of experience to be channeled into initiatives aimed at effectively protecting local species and ecosystems.
Greece hosts 18% of Europe’s fauna and is home to more than 27,000 recorded species of animals, 4,000 of which are unique to the country.
The Wildlife Alliance of Greece will focus actions and initiatives in the following key areas: improving the management of land and marine protected areas; improving the management and restoration of wildlife, facilitating and strengthening the participation of interested parties in the planning and implementation of actions; minimizing threats and their impact on wildlife and enhancing the integration of species protection into economic and business policies; supporting applied research in order to enhance the assessment of threats and to develop effective measures to protect species; fostering the harmonious coexistence between humans and wildlife; working with communities, administrative authorities and the corporate sector in order to co-shape and implement sustainable solutions to prevent or limit unwanted human-wildlife interactions.
Actions in this direction include awareness-raising events, organizing seminars and workshops, collecting and recording data, and offering scholarships for young researchers in the field.
