Livestock grazing, forest protection and law in Greece

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present, from a critical point of view, the current legal framework of livestock grazing in public forests in Greece, to present the implementation problems that have arisen and to suggest possible solutions.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors are trying to combine and implement some of the rangeland ecology results as a tool to explain the legal status and the reform proposals.

Findings

Livestock grazing is a misunderstood activity when it occurs in forests. In fact, when livestock grazing is controlled and based on the capacity of a forest area, it has been proven that it does not degrade an ecosystem; on the contrary, it contributes to biodiversity and to the prevention of forest fires. The prohibition of grazing for a long period of time, along with the establishment of a legal framework by which the forestry service is required to abide, which does not provide for alternatives or compensatory measures to farmers, has resulted in the creation of extremely unpleasant conditions for farmers.

Originality/value

There are hardly any relevant studies in Greek and international literature specifically focused on the Greek legal status of livestock grazing. The scarce contributions on this topic have been investigated and are incorporated in the justification of the study.

Citation

Kapotas, P. and Maria, E.A. (2017), "Livestock grazing, forest protection and law in Greece", Management of Environmental Quality, Vol. 28 No. 1, pp. 57-69. https://doi.org/10.1108/MEQ-03-2015-0037