The Greek Mediterranean and its abundance in resources provided civilizations that evolved in the region with ample amounts of timber, water, and minerals. The ancient Greeks inherited a land covered by rich stands of oaks, pines, and other trees with thick, drought-resistant leaves called a “sclerophyllous forest,” in the jargon of plant ecologists. But the natural resources of Mediterranean Greece have been exploited by civilizations since ancient times. As the Greek civilization and population expanded, it progressively destroyed the forests for firewood, charcoal (needed in firing pottery and other industrial processes), and lumber. The great trees were often burned by accident or as part of a military operation, or simply to create more open pastureland. Shipbuilding in ancient times resulted in deforestation and therefore to degradation of soil nutrition, the devastation of natural habitats, and an increase in water pollution due to sediment built up in bodies of water. Plato already described the effects of deforestation on soil erosion and the drying of springs in 400 BC (Daily, 1997: 5–6). For colonization alone from 800 to 400 BC, 153.6 million hectares of forest were destroyed. Soil erosion on the slopes of the rugged Greek hills helped to prevent reforestation as did grazing and browsing animals, which killed the seedlings before they could establish themselves. Especially prominent in the latter role were goats the “horned locusts” that have destroyed so much of the vegetation of the Mediterranean region and other areas where they’ve been introduced. In fact it’s not unfair, today, to describe much of that territory as a “goatscape”.
Source, accessed 02/06/2014)Deepening the imprint of the ancient Mediterranean Greek civilizations’ footprint was the extraction of minerals. Silver metallurgy, another specialization that developed in ancient times and continued until recently, was exploited so excessively that in 1976, production stopped because the supply of silver had been entirely consumed. Although Greece is no longer mainly specialized in shipbuilding and in the production of silver, human impact is greater than ever as shown by ecological degradation caused by mass tourism and its effects, and destruction caused my human migration, rapid economic growth, and urbanization. Recent plans to extract gold in the Halkidiki area pose another threat to the precious ecosystems in that area.
(Source accessed 02/06/2014)

The ancient Greeks took an essentially scientific view of their environment, and some Grecian writers saw that their land was deteriorating under human stewardship. It was already recognized then that the burning of charcoal caused air pollution and that the metallurgic fumes were toxic. Four centuries before Christ, Plato described Attica (the region around Athens), saying: “What now remains compared with what then existed is like the skeleton of a sick man, all the fat and soft earth having wasted away, and only the bare framework of the land being left.”

Greece’s rich natural environment is a major economic asset and provides many ecosystem services such as drinking water and water for irrigation and industry; food; habitat for biodiversity, tourism and recreation, etc. but is under increasing pressures from rapid urbanization, industrial and agricultural intensification, inefficient energy generation and tourism expansion. Economic and social development in Greece in its efforts to achieve convergence with the other European Union countries and to create material prosperity for its citizens resulted in the neglect of the environment. Air, soil, rivers, lakes, closed gulfs, lowland coasts, protected areas and sensitive ecosystems are experiencing serious environmental problems due to unplanned and careless development over the last 50 years. Transport, electricity power stations, overexploitation of water resources, degradation of coastal zones, loss of biodiversity in terrestrial and marine ecosystems and increasing contamination from municipal and industrial waste all exert strong pressures on the state of the environment. The environmental problems were caused by rapid and unplanned growth with little attention to their effects on the environment. This was exacerbated by a lack of environmental policies and deficiencies in legal and institutional frameworks. Limitations in enforcement of environmental laws are the result of organized local interests restricting policy implementation, as well as ‘irregularities’ and malpractices by local authorities, private citizens and state institutions. Much has improved with EU accession and convergence with the EU Acquis Communautaire but much is still left to be desired for (Valavanidis and Vlachogianni, 2012).

Water quality and wastewater treatment need to be reinforced. Intensification of agriculture requires better water management efforts. Greece must improve the efficiency of electricity generation. Chemical contamination of fresh water resources, land and coastal degradation should be prevented and mitigated. Environmentally appropriate solutions must be implemented for municipal waste.

Recently, there is a decreasing trend of the annual and seasonal levels of precipitation, especially the summer precipitation which is projected to decrease for the Mediterranean region. These trends are expected to affect fauna and flora, biodiversity, water resources, forest fires and various sensitive ecosystems.