The Dadia–Lefkimi–Soufli Forest National Park, Greece: Biodiversity, Management and Conservation

The Dadia–Lefkimi–Soufli Forest National Park, Greece: Biodiversity, Management and Conservation

THE DADIA–LEFKIMI–SOUFLI FOREST NATIONAL PARK, GREECE: BIODIVERSITY, MANAGEMENT AND CONSERVATION Edited by Giorgos Catsadorakis and Hans Källander Illustrations by Paschalis Dougalis WWF Greece Athens 2010 5 THE DADIA–LEFKIMI–SOUFLI FOREST NATIONAL PARK, GREECE: BIODIVERSITY, MANAGEMENT AND CONSERVATION Editors: Giorgos Catsadorakis, Hans Källander, P.O. Box 403, Villavägen 6, Dadia, SE-240 35 Harlösa, GR-68 400 Soufli, SWEDEN GREECE [email protected] [email protected] Suggested citation: Author’s name. 2010. Title of paper. – In: Catsadorakis, G. and Källander, H. (eds). The Dadia–Lefkimi–Soufli Forest National Park, Greece: Biodiversity, Management and Conservation. WWF Greece, Athens, pp. 000–000. © 2010, WWF Greece Published by: WWF Greece, 26 Filellinon str., GR-105 58 Athens, Greece Tel:+30 2103314893, fax: +302103247578 e-mail: [email protected] http://www.wwf.gr ISBN 978-960-7506-10-8 Typeset by ZooBo Tech, Torna Hällestad, Sweden Printed by Schema + Chroma, GR-574 00 Sindos, Thessaloniki, http://www.kethea-print.gr Illustrations by Paschalis Dougalis Maps on pages 18–28, 36, 42, 86, 89, 217 and 231–243 prepared by Nikolaos Kasimis, those on pages 23, 27 and 232 by Konstantinos Poirazidis. The book was printed on130 g FSC-certified Sappi Era Silk paper. Cover photo: Giorgos Catsadorakis. 6 Development trajectories and prospects in the Dadia–Lefkimi– Soufli Forest National Park Constantinos Liarikos The Dadia–Lefkimi–Soufli Forest National Park (DNP) is an area of great ecological importance at national, Mediter- ranean and European levels. However, all efforts to preserve this unique area are influenced by local development, de- mographic and social trajectories and other circumstances. As in most comparable areas in Europe and Greece, DNP is affected by a multitude of factors all of which negatively affect the area’s potential for capitalizing on its natural assets and geographical particularities. Materialization of its promising potential may only be sought through a diversified produc- tion, valorization of the public services offered and a strict focus on local competitive advantages. Not surprisingly, all of these are related to the issue of nature conservation and the direct or indirect results it yields for the area, Keywords: Dadia, rural development, regional development, protected areas, sustainability Introduction nexus of exogenously driven development activities, be these public (public works, army settlements, academic Examined within a West European context, Greece is institutions, etc.) or private in character (major tour- a state that exhibits a series of peculiarities insofar as its ism investments, industrial complexes, etc.), has acted political and development paths unfold through its his- to accentuate these effects. On top of these, relevant tory. These manifest themselves over a wide spectrum policy making has lately been overwhelmed by needs of sociopolitical circumstances to formulate citizen-gov- to respond to growing competition from previously ernment relations, attitudes towards the use of common “third” countries (tourism, agricultural goods), the need resource pools, dependence upon state bureaucracy, per- to somehow utilize geopolitical advantages in the fields tinent corporatism and corruption practices, the weak of transport and energy transfer and the concomitant cohesion of social engagement and civil society mecha- need to struggle for the preservation of natural and cul- nisms, and so forth. tural resources highly valued by its European and global Parallel to these traits, the country is also character- counterparts. ized by a strong polarization between rural and urban The above sets the scene for the discussion to follow, social experiences and development paths, against which regarding the development trajectories and prospects national policies unfold. Although the country remains faced by the Dadia–Lefkimi–Soufli Forest National predominantly rural compared to its 15 EU counter- Park area (henceforth DNP). An effort is made to prag- parts, its recent history has witnessed a systematic pro- matically depict the social and economic realities of the motion of urbanization and the relevant accentuation of region in order to familiarize readers with the character dependency mechanisms towards rural economies. The of this ecologically unique area, and to allow a deeper latter have been structured around a strong system of ag- understanding of issues that affect conservation pros- ricultural subsidies and induced political interdepend- pects. Given that the pertinent historical development encies regarding land-use and land ownership rights. A and administrative setting have been discussed in the 47 The Dadia–Lefkimi–Soufli Forest National Park introduction to this volume, we turn directly to the dis- long to the municipality of Soufli. As Fig. 1 demon- cussion of the demographics of the area. strates, the vast majority resides in the two main towns Before embarking on this discussion, however, it is (Soufli and Tychero), while the rest is roughly equally important to highlight one critical methodological is- distributed among the other municipal departments, sue, valid for most sections of this chapter. The DNP with Provatonas and Dadia having slightly larger popu- expands over a very large area that includes settlements, lations because of their proximity to Tychero and Soufli, villages, agricultural areas, pastures and woodland. respectively. The two municipal departments that actu- Although only three villages (Giannouli, Dadia and ally fall within the boundaries of the DNP, Dadia and Lefkimi) are actually situated within the boundaries of Lefkimi, plus the population of Giannouli, add up to a the DNP, another eight communities are just outside total of 1365 people. those boundaries and the activities of their inhabitants The population shows an excess of males and among relate directly, spatially or resource-wise, to the park. At them non-productive ages predominate together with the same time, the DNP is also affected by, and affects, the age group 15 to 24 years. Both these features repre- the wider area of the Evros prefecture within which it sent a departure from the national and regional averages, is embedded. For this reason, any effort to describe the both of which show an equal proportion of women in complex social and economic realities of the DNP as the overall population and a higher representation of the the sum of those of a number of communities will be an productive ages. Similar indices for the Evros prefecture abstraction: confining the analysis to the three villages fall between the national/regional averages and those for geographically within the DNP will disregard the func- the DNP municipalities. These characteristics are valid tional role of the communities just outside its borders for both the DNP functional and core areas, albeit even and even of the whole prefecture. On the other hand, more pronounced in the latter. choosing to discuss the social and economic conditions Combining gender and age structural characteristics, of all the ten municipal departments of the Soufli and men prevail in the productive age-range (15–64 years), Tychero municipalities that relate to the DNP, will also whereas women are overrepresented in the non-produc- erode the accuracy of results, by interpolating conclu- tive ages (0–15 and over 64 years). This characteristic is sions for the DNP from data corresponding to a much much more pronounced here than at other spatial levels a wider area. and becomes stronger when moving from the functional To overcome these problems, we shall articulate the to the core DNP area (Table 1). This can be considered discussion on three parallel spatial levels: (1) the whole as an effect of internal migration: women in the produc- Evros Prefecture, (2) the sum of the two municipalities tive ages tend to leave for the cities more often than do related with the DNP, henceforth termed the “function- men, who mostly remain to work the land. It is also a al DNP area1 ”, and (3) the two municipal departments widely seen characteristic of Greek rural areas and espe- that are explicitly contained in the park, i.e. Dadia and cially the more isolated ones. Lefkimi, in the following called the “core DNP area” (administratively, Giannouli is considered to be a sub- Changes in population size and structure urb of the town of Soufli). Population trends in rural Greece have seen abrupt changes, due to immigration and emigration move- Demography ments, violent abruptions in socioeconomic workings (wars and conflicts) and natural forces (natural catastro- phes, epidemics, plagues, etc.). Two time periods feature Population in the DNP today importantly in any discussion regarding rural popula- According to the latest (2001) population census (NSSG tions in Greece. The first one concerns the period be- 2003a), the two municipalities that share the DNP are fore World War II, during which two diverging trends inhabited by 11,622 people, almost 65% of whom be- are observed: (a) a strong emigration in the early 20th century, especially towards the USA and (b) a strong 1 The term “functional area” is used in economic and social ge- internal migration current immediately after the end of ography with a very particular meaning, namely an area within the Asia Minor campaign (this roughly coincides with which specific economic and social interactions take place. Here the term is used in a similar manner, albeit in a more simplified the end of World War I) when the Greeks of Asia Minor way, as it is not the outcome of specific linkage analyses, but were forced to relocate to Greece within the framework rather related to certain administrative structures. of an organized population exchange scheme. This latter 48 C. Liarikos: Economy and society Fig. 1. The size of the human population and its distribution between the different Municipal Divisions (M.D.) in 2001 (Source: NSSG 2003a) development is of particular importance to the areas of border areas), but was also dictated by hopes of better northern Greece which for a variety of reasons received livelihoods in urban centres.

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