Nowhere are the dangers of hyper-tourism more evident than at some of the most iconic sites of natural beauty in Crete. Common problems are overcrowding, especially in high summer, uncontrolled car parking, litter and the general degradation of environmentally vulnerable ecosystems through the sheer pressure of human activity. Gradually, local authorities are waking up to the fact that allowing the degradation of tourist attractions through over-use is not a recipe for long-term success, and taking measures to manage the situation.

Common approaches include restricting the flow of visitors, by encouraging them to spend less time at each site, restricting indiscriminate car parking by the introduction and management of car parks, preservation and restoration of vulnerable environmental features, and education of visitors so that they treat vulnerable sites which greater respect and understanding. The Haniotika Nea has recently visited two of the most visited sites in the nomos of Chania – Balos and Elafonissi – and a third, less well-known but very popular site, Kedrodasos, to see how measures to protect the environment are progressing.

This post deals with the measures being applied at Balos and Kedrodasos. A separate post on Elafonissi will follow.

Measures to protect Balos

The plans for restricting car parking on the Gramvousa peninsula, which we reported on in January, are part of a wider plan for the protection of one of the most recognisable beauty spots in Crete and indeed in Greece. The Municipality of Kissamos, in collaboration with the Natural Environment and Climate Change Agency (NECCA), the responsible services and scientific bodies, are proceeding with a number of initial interventions for the current year.

Kostas Koukourakis, an unpaid consultant to the Municipality of Kissamos on matters of planning and the environment, told the Haniotika Nea that a series of meetings and discussions are under way with the responsible authorities, with the aim of changing the poor state of affairs which prevails at Balos – the thousands of cars using the access road and the uncontrolled visitor numbers, the disappearance of shellfish from the lagoon, and the dangers of adulteration of the protected area.

Planned interventions

The interventions can be summarised as follows:
– protection of the lagoon
Entrance to the lagoon was forbidden to visitors by the Samaria Management Body two years ago. Mr Koukourakis explained that “a 3-metre wide zone around the lagoon will be marked off with posts so that the sand does not get trodden on. This will allow regeneration of the bivalve [shellfish] populations which used to thrive in the lagoon, but which have almost disappeared because of the enormous human presence (sun cream, people picking them up, etc).”
– installation of 150 umbrellas by the Municipality this year, instead of the 300 of previous years, with the aim of reducing the amount of time that visitors spend there.
– rebuilding of the footpath to Gramvousa castle, creation of conditions for dive tourism to the north of Imeri island and the southern part of the peninsula opposite to it (similar areas are planned for Falassarna and Elafonissi).
– as regards vehicular access, a contractor has been appointed to create the car park at Kalyviani. It is estimated that the work will be completed by the end of June. The car park will take 300 private cars, while the existing car park above Balos will be retained for 100 vehicles.
“When the car park near Balos is full, it will be closed and the remaining visitors will have to park at Kalyviani. They will be taken up the peninsula in two minibuses which will provide a continuous shuttle service. In this way we will avoid the kilometres-long queues with thousands of private cars all along the road from Kalyviani to Gramvousa. Our aim is to close the 100-space car park as soon as we are able,” Mr Koukourakis said.
– as regards the transport of visitors by boat, there have been some preliminary talks with the boat-owners, who seem in favour of changes to rationalise the situation.
“An initial agreement is for the boats to leave the visitors at Balos for a shorter time and to go more to Imeri island, and we will review the situation next year. This is a major issue, because the number of visitors at Balos cannot exceed 2,500 throughout day, so that they don’t all end up in the area at the same time and overload it,” Mr Koukourakis said.
(Haniotika Nea 17-05-23)

Scheme to protect Kedrodasos

The tree-lined beach of Kedrodasos lies a couple of kilometres to the east of Elafonissi (the term means “cedar forest” in Greek, though the trees are actually junipers – a related species). A series of beaches and coves set among sand dunes, it offers peace and seclusion for those seeking something away from the normal run of tourist attractions, and it has been a popular spot for camping. However, it has become overcrowded in summer, with up to 2,000 visitors at a time at the height of the season, which represent a threat to the fragile ecosystem. The adjoining municipalities of Kissamos and Kantanos-Selino are proposing to expropriate privately-owned stretches of the site, and have drawn up a management plan for its protection.

The management plan

The two municipalities’ management plan for the vulnerable area is almost complete, environmental engineer Manolis Kotronakis told Haniotika Nea: “There is a proposal to expropriate the whole area, from Elafonissi to Kedrodasos, so that the management plan proposed by the two municipalities can be implemented 100 per cent. The municipal council of Kantanos-Selino are unanimous that this priority habitat must be protected.”

The municipalities’ proposals for Kedrodasos include:
– Prohibition of recreation and refreshment facilities and of the placing of umbrellas and sunbeds throughout the area of Kedrodasos.
– Hiking, swimming and snorkelling will be allowed.
– Motor-driven forms of transport will be forbidden from approaching the shore
– The construction of raised wooden walkways will be allowed, to provide access to the shore, as well as wooden signs and information boards. The wooden walkways will prevent the roots of the trees being trodden underfoot, and the erection of wooden posts to prevent access under the junipers is also planned
– It is prοpοsed to fence the whole of the habitat area to protect it from uncontrolled grazing.
– A comprehensive plan is proposed for the rehabilitation of the habitat in places where the underlying junipers have been destroyed or disappeared over the past 30 years, on the basis of comparisons of pairs of aerial photographs and recent satellite images.
– Staying on the beach after sunset is to be prohibited,

Refuse disposal

With regard to the litter produced by the visitors, which degrades the image of the area, the Municipality of Kantanos-Selino urges them to respect the environment. As Manolis Koukoulas, the deputy mayor responsible for municipal hygiene services told Haniotika Nea: “There are regular rubbish collections but we ask visitors to respect the area. They should take their rubbish and put it in one of the 16 rubbish bins which we have there, and not leave it in the open. When the bins fill up we immediately send a garbage truck to empty them, but in the event that they are full, they should take their rubbish with them and put it in the first empty bin they find on their way to Palaiochora or Kissamos.”

The need for expropriations

The need for expropriation of privately-owned land was stressed some time ago by the former Management Body for the Samaria National Park (now part of NECCA), which has responsibility for the Natura areas. The document in question stressed that habitats such as Kedrodasos are under severe pressure and there needs to be a unified management of the area to counter the threats:
“The implementation of such an integrated plan for the preservation of those species and habitats is hindered by the existence of private properties, because many of the required activities affect rights in rem, resulting in a conflict between the object of preservation and the existence of private properties. The expropriation of the properties would permit the complete and unified management of the dune ecosystem, without the obstacles which arise from the existence of private properties.”
(Haniotika Nea, 19-05-23)