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» 'Olive Wars' over after law passed to protect tree |
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| 'Olive Wars' over after law passed to protect tree |
An end to the destruction of Corfu’s olive groves is in sight, after
intervention by the New Democracy parliamentary deputy Nikos Georgiades. His
last minute action resulted in the amendment of a law setting new strict
penalties for illegal cutting of trees. The law was being presented to
Parliament without provision for Corfu’s olive groves, and it was only after
Georgiades threatened to resign that a clause applying to Corfu was added.
Luvcorfu Properties Directors Harry Tsoukalas and Hilary Paipeti both
received threats due to their campaign for a ban on cutting of the trees.
For the same reason, they were victims of a smear campaign on several
British-run websites. Luvcorfu Properties does not market property of any
description owned by people who have cut down trees.
Catastrophic cutting of the trees (to lower than a height of three metres)
was made illegal by laws passed in the first part of the last century, but
fines remained at levels set in those days. Systematic cutting to
near-ground level of Corfu’s 400-year-old trees began recently when the
wholesaler and supermarket chain Diellas began subsidizing its imported
products by filling lorries otherwise returning empty to Italy with wood
destined for pizza ovens. Subsequently, teams of Albanians cashed in by
providing a hungry labour force operating in Mafia style. Tree owners,
desperate for cash due to a drop in tourism and losses on the stock market,
were paid a pittance for the wood. In some cases, untended olive groves were
cut down without the owners’ permission or even knowledge. It is estimated
that up to 10% of Corfu’s olive groves have been lost.
The law sets out the new rules:
- The transportation of olive wood whose cutting violates the law is
forbidden.
- The transportation of olive wood is permitted only with a special license
issued by the Department of Agriculture of the Prefecture of Corfu.
- Whoever transports olive wood in violation of the above, as well as the
owner of the wood, is liable to a prison sentence of up to two months.
- Olive wood which is being transported without license, as well as the
vehicle transporting it, will be confiscated by representatives of the
Ministry of Economics, the Greek Police or the Port Authority.
- Licenses will not be issued for the catastrophic cutting of olive trees,
this being defined as cutting of the main part of the tree in a way that
will damage its long-term production capacity.
Nikos Georgiades described the decision as a historic one. Corfu’s two other
deputies, Nikos Dendias and Angela Gerekou, have both supported a ban on the
cutting.
The Corfu Environmental Initiative called the new law ‘the second great
environmental victory of the last five years, after the ban on aerial
spraying.’ The organization emphasized that the time is now right for the
implementation of ecological farming techniques in Corfu’s olive groves. |
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