L.M. Mallarach

P. Kakouros

T. Papayannis

Π. Κακούρος

Digital Repository of the Greek Biotope-Wetland Centre (EKBY)

IUCNWorld Commission on Protected AreasThe Sacred Dimension of Protected Areas• Proceedings of the Second Workshopof the Delos Initiative - Ouranoupoiis 2007Edited by Thymio Papayannis and Josep-Maria MallarachAANAPHTOPIAIENTPOrPOTOflQNIUCNy+\Landscape conservation actions on Mount AthosAthos Peninsula, Halkidikl, Central Macedonia, GreecePetros KakourosAbstractThe Athos Peninsula / Holy Mountain is a mountainous landscape characterised by diverse vegetation and a complex to­pography whose profound beauty and diversity is preserved by an orthodox monastic community whose history goes back over 1,000 years. The Holy Moun­tain is a World Heritage Site.The need for special landscape conser­vation actions emerged after the wildfire of 1990 and the road network that has since been developed. The Holy Com­munity and the monasteries launched several landscape conservation initia­tives aimed at restoring the forest and assessing the impact of infrastructural development on the environment and overall ecological management of the area. The first such study concerned theecological management of the Simo- nopetra area and the management plans for the forest of each monastery. An im­portant step towards assessing the im­pact of the forest road network and the requisite restoration work was the study on the ‘Rehabilitation of slopes along the forest road network in Mount Athos’.The next important step towards rehabili­tating the landscape was the spiritual and economic support from the Holy Community provided for Professor Dafis’ call for the gradual abandonment of the coppice management of oak forests (Holm oak and Hungarian oak). This was implemented through the Life-Nature project ‘Rehabilitation of coppice Quer- cus frainetto woods and Quercus ilex woods’, which aimed to invert coppice into high forests.< The Holy Monastery of Agios Pavlos, Mount Athos, Greece 127IntroductionMount Athos and its 20 monasteries has stood proud down the centuries, a lofty symbol on the Athos Peninsula denoting the Ark of Orthodoxy and Faith, a guardi­an of the history and cultural heritage of the land that cherishes a priceless part of society’s natural riches with such devotion.The blue sea and gentle coastline, the wild beauty of the ravines and cliffs and the dense green vegetation alongsidethe monasteries and sketes that seem to hover in mid-air compose a representa­tive picture of the timeless and close-knit relationship between Man and Nature.This is a landscape of rare beauty and major ecological significance, exqui­site architectural achievements and outstanding historical and religious val­ue. When, during the 20th century, this unique landscape suffered a wide­spread degradation of its natural quali­ties for the first time, the monastic com ­munity responded with several initia-Mount Athos is the highest peak on the peninsula of the same name, which forms the eastern­most part of Halkidiki in North-eastern Greece-AH.M. Esfigmonou*cH.M. ChlliandariouH.M. VatopaidfouH.M. ZografoutH.M. KonstamonltouH.M. Pantokratoros'«ifO fH.M. DochiarioutH.M. XenofontosH.M. StavronlkitatH.M. KutlumuslouH.M. IvlronH.M. Ag. Panteleimonos +H.M. XfropotamouH.M. Simónos PetrasH.M. Osiou GrigoriouH .M .D .o n y t j i^ jL  H.M. Meglstl. Lavra,o 2.000 4.000 apeo t Holy M onasteries Mount Athos128tives which sought to reduce the ad­verse impact of road network projects, to enhance the ecological manage­ment of the forests, and to supervise the coppice oak forests.The natural settingMount Athos is the higher peak of the peninsula of the same name and forms the easternmost part of Halkidiki in North-eastern Greece (image in p. 128). Mount Athos is also known as the ‘Athos Peninsula’, the ‘Holy Mountain’ or -m ore simple- the ‘Mountain’ (Oros), a term used mainly by people in Halkidiki and other nearby areas. Geologically, Mount Athos is an extension of the Rhodope mountain range and consists of meta- morphic rocks -gneiss, greenstone, schist and limestone- with a high miner­al and structural diversity.Apart from its great geological diversity, Mount Athos has a complex topography dominated by its peak which soars to 2,033 metres. The climate of the penin­sula is affected by the North-westerly winds and the mountain itself, which acts as a major windbreak, creating a unique micro-climate.This geological diversity and topograph­ic complexity combined with climatic va­riety, the isolation of the narrow peninsu­la and the absence of grazing has re­sulted in a complex mosaic of several vegetation types ranging from charac­teristic Mediterranean to alpine habitat types. Apart from the diversity of habitat types, the area is also characterised by good to excellent conservation status and considerable species diversity com­prising 1,453 plant taxa (Babalonas 2001) as well as 131 bird, 37 mammal, 14 reptile and eight amphibians species (Vavalekas 2001).The rich vegetation and complex topog­raphy of Mount Athos make for a pro­foundly beautiful and diverse landscape. Soft coastal landscapes can be found adjacent to deep gorges and alternate with steep coastal rocks. The natural en­vironment is an integral part of the cul­The Holy Skete of Timiou ProdromouMixed beech /  fir forest on Mount Athostural heritage of Mount Athos, which should be protected with special care (images in pp. 129 and 130).Historical dataGrisebach (1841) reports that Mount Athos was surrounded by thick old- growth forests with a great variety of spe­cies and vegetation. The same author states that the natural characteristics of the area were unique and could not be found elsewhere in Europe. However, af­ter the Russian revolution of 1917, which was followed by the Greek rural reforma­tion in the 1920s, the monasteries began exploiting their forests in order to make up for the revenues lost from expropriat­ed properties and from donations from the Orthodox communities of Russia. As a result, the majority of the forests were turned into coppice.Rauh, who visited the Holy Mountain in the 1940s, argued that the vegetation had maintained the abundance andplenitude reported by Grisebach despite the conversion of many forests to cop­pice, and that it constituted an oasis in the Balkan Peninsula whose remaining forests were poor at best. Nevertheless, the available data are poor and it is pos­sible that the transformation led to the loss of flora and fauna species which on­ly live in old-growth forests.Nowadays, the only high forests on Mount Athos are some beech (Fagus sp.) and mountainous Mediterranean conifer forests (Black pine), the forests of Aleppo pine in the Northern part of the peninsula and a few remains of the mixed forests in the forest of the Holy Monastery of Grigoriou and in remote locations of the forests of the monas­teries of Simonopetra and Megisti Lavra.The ecosystems of the broadleaved ev­ergreen trees, which provided the mon­asteries with fuel wood, were also se­verely impacted as fuel wood and char­coal remain an almost exclusive source130of energy for many monasteries and sketes to this day. As a result, the moun­tain’s evergreen deciduous formations show various levels of degradation around almost all of its monasteries.Nature and monastic lifeOrthodox monastic life is characterised by temperance, the careful use of natural resources and a sensitivity towards na­ture conservation. The ultimate criteria for the use of natural resources are sym­metry between needs and use, and the preservation of spiritual peace. The limits of monastic life should serve the conser­vation of nature, and there are written rules dating back to the foundation of the monastic community of Mount Athos, which explicitly prohibit actions with the potential to alter the balance of nature.Forest management is no exception. During the reign of the Byzantine emper­or loannis Tzimiskis (AD 972), limitations were placed on the timber trade (Box 1), while later legislation specified that the forests could only be exploited to cover the needs of the monasteries.Today, monks follow in the monastic tra­dition of ‘order’ and ‘sustainability’ and try to live in harmony with their environ­mental surroundings, to manage the for­ests with respect, care and a love for na­ture, and to apply the traditional monas­tic knowledge in parallel with modern scientific methods and techniques.Landscape conservation actionsReducing the impact of the road networkIn August (14-18) 1990, a devastating fire destroyed 2,230 ha of mainly chest­nut and oak forests and threatened the Monastery of Simonopetra. The fire was able to spread so widely for two main reasons: the absence of forest roads and the density of the coppice forests (Kailidis 1990). After this tragic incident, the Monastic Community realised that further action was required for the sound management of Athos’ forests and land­scapes, and that:•  Coppice management should be re-evaluated.•  New road networks should be con­structed for the protection of the mon­asteries and forests.Many new roads were constructed as a result over the next few years. However, because the monks’ fearful state of mindBox 1loannis Tsimiskes’ Typikon [Rules of governance of the monastic community] of AD 972 imposed strict limits on the trade in forest products, while a second Typikon issued by Constantine VII Monomachos in AD 1045 states that trees may only be felled to provide for the needs of the monasteries.131Forest road constructed in the early Nineties visible from the seawas not conducive to careful planning, this development left permanent scars on the Athonite landscape (image in p. 132). When the monks became aware of the problem, they decided to investi­gate methods for rehabilitating slopes along their forest road network, resulting in a Special Environmental Management Study conducted by the Greek Biotope / Wetland Centre (Dafis et al. 1999). The main two objectives of this Study were:•  To assess the impact of the construc­tion of the road network on nearby natural landscapes; and•  To evaluate potential restoration mea­sures.The report concluded that for 11 of the 20 monasteries, the road density was higher than the 15m/ha limit considered appropriate for the environment. After al­most ten years, it is clear that the Athonite road network has to be thor­oughly studied as a whole. It is also clear that this study should consider theclosure of some roads and their return to a natural state. New roads should on­ly be opened after adequate delibera­tion and a careful environmental assess­ment into the appropriate drainage works and restoration measures. Re­garding the rehabilitation of the roads, the study of 1999 concluded that natural vegetation had successfully established itself on all low height (3-5m) slopes, but that intervention was necessary for, and restoration measures should applied to, slopes higher than 5 metres.Finally, it was suggested that mature trees should not be removed, even if they are in close proximity to the road network, whereas further reforestation plans (involving mainly local species) should be drawn up and implemented. Subsequently, all new roads (image in p. 133) have been implemented in line with these simple rules and the results are more than obvious, as can be seen from a comparison of images in pp. 132 and 133.132Newly-constructed road in which care has been taken to minimise the impact on the landscapeEcological management of the forest of Simonopetra MonasteryThe fire of 1990 adversely affected the lands of the Simonopetra Monastery, whose monks decided that the forest should be managed ecologically to pro­duce wood to cover the monastery’s needs and to render it better prepared in the event of another forest fire. Accord­ingly, the monks invited Professor Spy- ros Dafis and his team to produce a de­tailed inventory of the monastery’s natu­ral environment and to make proposals concerning the ecological management of their forest. In addition to these main objectives, the study also assessed the situation after the forest fire of 1990.The study (Dafis 1993) covered an area of 1260 ha and identified 14 fundamen­tal points relating to the ecological man­agement of the monastery’s forests, such as favouring mixed stands, in­crease the minimum diameter of logged trees, conserving aged trees, introduc­ing ecologically-tolerable methods of transportation and setting some stands aside as nature reserves. With regard to the rehabilitation of burned areas, the study proposed felling all burned trees for aesthetic reasons, protecting the soil, increasing its organic matter and the for­est’s inversion to high forest. The study also proposed the stratification of the burned trunks along the contours of the slopes to help prevent soil erosion.These recommendations respected the integrity of the site and were followed to the letter. Today, 17 year on, it is very dif­ficult to find evidence of the fire since the vegetation has fully recovered, Castanea woods are now coppiced every 35-40 ye­ars, and 29 ha (which equates to 23% of the forested area of the Simonopetra Mo­nastery) have been excluded from ex­ploitation and set aside for nature con­servation. More importantly, most of the other monasteries proposed their own environmental management plans in the wake of the Simonopetra Monastery’s in­133itiative; the 14 principles originally pre­sented to the Simonopetra Monastery are now widely accepted across the Ho­ly Mountain.Inversion of coppice Hungarian oak and Holm oak woods to high forestThe coppice oak forests have been rec­ognised since the fire of 1990 as a threat which could assist the spread of forest fires. At the same time, several monks re­sponsible for forest management realised that Hungarian oak (Quercus frainetto) could provide high-quality timber for con­structions, that coppice management had altered the pristine landscape of Mount Athos, and that several species typical of high forests had become rare due to the alteration of their habitat. At the same time, the income from Holm oak (Quer­cus //ex) forests had fallen in significance.In this context, the Holy Community of Mount Athos implemented the LIFE-Na- ture ‘Rehabilitation of coppice Quercus frainetto and Quercus ilex woods to high forest’ project. The main scope of this project was to initiate the rehabilitation of coppice Holm oak and Hungarian oak woods to high forest1.The method selected for the rehabilita­tion of both types of oak forests was that of selective inversion thinning, which over the three-year period of the project was successfully applied to an area of 500 ha (Kakouros and Dafis 2004). Oth­er key objectives of the project included1 http://ec.europa.eu/environment/life/coun- tries/ documents/greece_en_nov06.pdfthe training of forest workers and super­visors, the establishing of a monitoring system consisting of 45 permanent test plots, and the publication (with contribu­tions from associated Italian and Span­ish networks) of Guidelines for the Reha­bilitation o f Degraded Oak Forests (Dafis and Kakouros 2006).The main results of the project can be summarised as follows:•  Successful implementation of selec­tive inversion thinning, especially in Holm oak, which will reduce the risk of wildfires and enhance diversity of spe­cies which prefer less dense forests.•  The setting up of a monitoring system allowing for a long-term ecological and economical assessment of the method; and•  The establishing of a demonstration ar­ea for the sustainable management of Holm oak and Hungarian oak forests in Greece and the Mediterranean in general.One of the most important elements of the project was the close cooperation with the monks, the exchange of experience on fo­rest management issues, and most impor­tantly of all the integration of the spiritual aspects of nature management -the be­liefs that the forest should be treated as a valuable and fragile gift from God; that for­est management should take it into con­sideration that the forest should provide shelter for all God’s creatures; and that wood and non-wood products of the forest should be extracted only to benefit the spi­ritual life of monks and pilgrims- into the planning and implementation of the project.134ReferencesBabalonas, D. (2001), “Flora and endemism of Mount Athos" in S. Dafis, N. Tsigaridas and M. Fountoulis (eds.) Holy Mountain: Nature-Worship-Art, Thessaloniki: Cultural Capital of Europe -  Thessaloniki 97, Thessaloniki, p. 7.Kailidis, D. (1990), Η δασική πυρκαγιά του Αγίου Ό ρ ο υ ς- 14-28 August 1990, Thes­saloniki, p. 16.Kakouros, P. and Dafis, S. (2004), Τεχνική μελέτη για την ανόρθωση των δασών με  Quercus ilex και των δασών με Quercus frainetto του Αγιου Όρους, Greek Biotope- Wetland Centre, Thermi, p. 59.Dafis, S. and Kakouros, P. (eds.) (2006), Guidelines for the rehabilitation of degraded oak forests, Greek Biotope/Wetland Centre, Thermi, p. 40.Dafis, S. (1993), The Forest Of Holy Mountain Athos, Thessaloniki, p. 66.Dafis, S., Goudelis, G. and Kontos, N. (1999), Αποκατάσταση των πρανών του δασικού οδικού δικτύου στο Άγιον Όρος: αξιολόγηση - προτάσεις, Greek Biotope Wetland Centre, Thermi, p. 111.Grisebach, A. (1841), Reise durch Rumelien und Brussa in jahre 1839, 1.2 University of Gottingen, Gottingen, p. 361.Rauch, W. (1949), “Klimatologie der Vegetationsverhältnisse der Athos-Halbinsel und der ostägäischen Inseln Lemnos, Evstratios, Mytiline und Chios” , Heidelberger Akade­mie der Wissenschaften, Mathematisch -  Naturwissenschaftliche Klasse (12), 511 -  615.Vavalekas, C. (2001), “The fauna of the Holy Mountain” in S. Dafis, N. Tsigaridas and M. Fountoulis (eds.) Holy Mountain: N ature- Worship- Art, Thessaloniki, Cultural Cap­ital of Europe -  Thessaloniki ’97, Thessaloniki, p. 9.135IUCNINTERNATIONAL UNI' FOR CONSERVATION OF NATUWORLD HEADQUARTE Rue Mauverne} 1196 Gland, Switzerl mail@iucn Tel +41 22 999 0 Fax +41 22 999 0 www.iucn.mecUinaMediterranean Institute for Nature and Anttvopos^ W C P A  « y  ....WORLD COMMISSION ON PROTECTED AREAS

Landscape conservation actions on Mount Athos: Athos Peninsula, Halkidiki, Central Macedonia, Greece

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Landscape conservation actions on Mount Athos: Athos Peninsula, Halkidiki, Central Macedonia, Greece

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