tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626409544734615928.post-69565631633908816202008-03-17T08:46:00.000-07:002008-03-19T00:35:25.181-07:002008-03-19T00:35:25.181-07:00Athens, 17 March 2008 <br />Philip Ammerman<br />pga@navigator-consulting.com<br /><br /><br />On Sunday, March 16th, in a rare example of public, private and civil society cooperation, some 150 volunteers gathered to clean the beach and forest of Schinias. Under a bright, wind-swept sky, the group managed to clear an area of about 200 m x 100 m, or about 20 stremmata of forest. Although this is a small part of the total area of Schinias, it was a strong start to what many will hope will be an ongoing effort. <br /><br />The volunteers were all ages and nationalities: Greeks, Americans, French, British, Australians, Dutch, Belgians, Canadians, Brazilians, Israelis, Palestinians, Chinese, Moldovans, Serbians, Koreans and Germans all participated. All shared one common goal: to clean and remove as much garbage as possible, restoring the forest and beach to its native state. <br /><br />The clean-up initiative was launched by NAVIGATOR Consulting Group Ltd., and co-organised by Athenes Accueil; the Foreigners Club of Nea Makri, Marathon, Rafina and Northeast Attica; the Hellenic-American Democratic Association (HELADA); MIAFYSI International Nature Network; and the Princeton Club of Greece. <br /><br />Both the public and private sectors supported the effort. The Municipality of Marathon provided a cleaning crew and garbage truck during the day, despite the fact that it was Sunday and the national strike by sanitation workers was in effect. Gr. Sarantis SA donated plastic garbage bags used by the volunteers. Agripan SA provided a tractor and crew for cleaning the beach. Skai 100.3 FM radio, Kathimerini and The Athens News provided invaluable publicity for the event. <br /><br />Following the clean-up, a picnic lunch was held on the beach. Dr. Kimon Hadjibiros, President of the Managing Body of the Marathon-Schinias National Park, made a short presentation on the goals and objectives of the Park. This year will be the first time that the Park receives funding to employ 3 park rangers, who will work from April to November at Schinias. <br /><br />The Schinias National Park faces grave environmental threats, as there are not enough funds or resources to properly safeguard the area. Every year, over 1 million people visit the beach, mostly Athenians coming for the day. Ton of garbage and refuse are left on the beach and forest, ranging from food packaging to baby diapers to rusted beach umbrellas and chairs. During the high season, over 1,000 cars enter the park, creating significant damage to the beach and dunes. <br /><br />Yet perhaps the most dangerous threat is that of fire. Schinias–like Olympia–has benefited from the installation of an automated fire fighting system. Unfortunately this system has never been connected to the municipal water main network due to lack of funds and technical incompatibility. With the high winds and large number of visitors during the dry summer months, a fire could start and spread in a very short time period, causing incalculable damage. <br /><br />Additional initiatives are being planned: interested people are invited to visit the website www.schinias-friends.org to receive information on future events. <br /> <br /><strong>Roll of Honour</strong><br />We warmly thank all organisations and individuals who participated and contributed to this event. (If you contributed and are not on this list, or know someone who was there and is not mentioned, please email corrections to Philip Ammerman at pga@navigator-consulting.com)<br /><br /><strong>Organisers</strong><br />Athenes Accueil<br />Foreigners Club of Nea Makri, Marathon, Rafina and Northeast Attica <br />Hellenic-American Democratic Association (HELADA)<br />MIAFYSI International Nature Network<br />NAVIGATOR Consulting Group<br />Princeton Club of Greece<br /><br /><strong>Municipality of Marathon </strong><br />Spyridon Zagaris, Mayor <br />Manolis Sideri, Sanitation Director<br /><br /><strong>Marathon-Schinias National Park</strong><br />Dr. Kimon Hadjibiros, President<br /><br /><strong>Donations & Support</strong><br />Agripan SA, ETEMA SA, John Lewis, Gr. Sarantis SA <br /><br /><strong>Media & Promotion</strong><br />SKAI 100.3 FM, The Athens News, Kathimerini<br /><br /><strong>Car Pool</strong><br />Murray Brill, Chris Woodfin, Mandy Veil, Athan Vellanites <br /><br /><strong>Promotion & Dissemination</strong><br />Philip Ammerman, Philip Dragoumis, Myriam Elice, George Keramitzoglou, Minos Kok, Karen Lee, Steven Medeiros, Alexis Phylactopoulos, Daisy Rodriguez, Charity Moschopoulos<br /><br /><strong>Picnic</strong><br />Regina Tassitano, Alexander Ammerman, Christine Ammerman<br /><br /><strong>Registration Desk</strong><br />Lieke & Henske Defize<br /><br /><strong>Volunteers & Participants</strong><br />Despina Alexandri<br />Philip Ammerman<br />Alexander Ammerman<br />Sophie & Stephen Ammerman<br />Nikos Anastasopoulos<br />Thomas Anemos<br />Spyros Beis<br />Chrystelle Blanchard<br />Pascaline Bossu<br />Kostas Botopoulos<br />Nadia Boujnini-Lahlou<br />Murray Brill<br />Michelle Buckley<br />Elias Carayiannis<br />Ruth Carter<br />Jean Chlochard<br />Katrien Cobbaert<br />Emmanouel Constantinides<br />Esme Copestake<br />Christine Counelis<br />Lieke & Henske Defize<br />Catherine Delcourt<br />Rosemary Donnelly<br />Philip Dragoumis<br />John Economides<br />Dimitris Eleftherakis<br />Myriam Elice<br />Yael Eshel<br />Rebecca Fordham<br />Dimitris Fragakis<br />Christina Gavrili<br />Kalliope Georgpanti<br />Sonia Gerodimou<br />Rami Ghoneim<br />Thodoris Gialiathakis<br />Keri Golas<br />Harry & Sue Goldsmith<br />Kimon Hadjibiros<br />Scott Hathaway<br />Anna Haughton<br />Aya Haykel<br />Hadeel Hmaidi<br />Paula Hobson<br />Andreas Idra<br />Shelley & Hercules<br />Romina Istrati<br />Panos Karametzanis<br />James Katsinis<br />George Keramitzoglou<br />Brady Kiesling<br />Katerina Kitsili<br />Minos Kok<br />Eleana-Sara<br />Elli & Kassandra Kousouli<br />Deborah Kyrvrikosaios<br />Karen Lee<br />Evan Matiatos<br />Isaak Mavrides<br />Judith Mega<br />Sophie Mitic<br />Apostolis Mitropoulos<br />JoonSeok Oh<br />Angela Papalambrou<br />Hadar Papatrechas<br />Alexandros Perrakis<br />Alexis Phylactopoulos<br />Theodoros Rentzias<br />George Saliarelis<br />Sofia Skourti<br />Manolis Sideris<br />Kostas Spyrides<br />Regina Tassitano<br />Madeleine Theochari<br />Barbara Tomasini<br />Ingrid Vangastel<br />Mandi Veil<br />Athan Vellanitis<br />Spiros Vlahos<br />Chris Woodfin<br />Spyridon Zagaris<br />George Zarkadas<br />Anthea Zervos<br />Peipei ZhuPhiliphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04706813821954088317noreply@blogger.com0