Management and Sustainability of Greek Wetlands

Abstract

Greece has today about 400 large and small wetlands. Some of them are international importance and some are considered as national importance. Several of them are composite and form wetland mosaics or complexes. The most common wetland types in Greece are: rivers, estuaries, deltas, lagoons, shallow lakes, shallow marine formations, marshes. Their total area is still quite large (210,000 ha) in spite of the heavy losses that occurred during the last two generations Threats of degradation are drainage, dam construction, irrigation networks, alteration in river morphology such as diversion flow, clearing of natural vegetation which alter hydrological regime and affect wetland function. Sustainable agriculture in the hydrological basins of important wetlands should be considered because these systems are threaten most.