The document of the Ministry of Environment for the definition by the Municipal Authorities of those areas that they consider to be in need of increased protection, should be used to become the first step that will change the current development model of the Cyclades based on the unlimited tourist growth of small and limited places, consuming and eliminating all those elements that constitute the unique identity of each island and is the motivation for visitors from all parts of the world and the only renewal of the island.

On this basis, municipal authorities and local communities must clearly position themselves on the questions “what kind of growth we have, what kind of growth we want and can afford, and where and how this growth will take place”.

The institutionalization of Local Urban Plans (LEPs), which is currently underway, must take this necessity into account. Local communities need to be informed about the short and long-term consequences of the development model currently in place and about the alternatives that a different development direction could offer, making it impossible for such events to recur.

But until the institutionalization of any new plans, the destruction of the landscape – which is an integral part of the identity of each island – with illegal permits, such as that of Sarakinikos, continues, as does arbitrary building , as the political leadership of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources now publicly admits.

Although, based on the above and the elementary understanding of law and common sense, there should be a complete ban on building until the TPAs are completed and the Ministry and the State in general ensure ALL the conditions for compliance with legality, as follows from the Constitution, and from the country’s international commitments (e.g. The Network returns to the proposals that it had submitted in the form of a motion for a resolution concerning:

• Immediate implementation of the current legislation, the jurisprudence of the Council of State and the provisions of the existing GPAs and SPSPs concerning the protection of the environment and the landscape, in particular:
  • in building with control of the permits issued, but also re-control of those that have been issued especially with regard to building outside the settlement (building only with a person on a legally existing road)
  • a ban on the opening of individual roads. Application of case law.
  • ‘protection of dry stone buildings and structures (paths/agricultural roads, terraces, stables, storage areas, threshing floors, etc.) and traditional farmhouses and other rural buildings’

• Immediate restriction of new tourist building with:
  • Immediate cessation of pre-approval and approval of Special Urban Plans, ESXASE and ESXADA (tourist accommodation) with the aim of their abolition as a type of building development in the Cyclades. With the aforementioned cessation (in accordance with the case law of the Council of State), spatial planning – Local Urban Plans (LEPs) – is facilitated in terms of their objectives and the creation of irreversible situations is avoided.
  • Exclusion of tourist accommodation from strategic investments
  • Focusing subsidies on upgrading existing businesses and enriching the tourism product by highlighting environmental, cultural and productive resources

• Maintaining the possibility of constructing only single-storey houses outside the settlement (with a limited area, depending on the conditions of each island, as will be determined locally), which will be energy & water autonomous (with recycling of used water) through standards proposed by experts and based on international experience.

• Abolition of cave buildings on islands where there were no traditional ones and where they have unsuitable soils (granite), with features completely alien to the local architecture (e.g. large glass openings) and with a building premium.

• Drastic restriction of the possibility of building swimming pools on islands plagued by drought and water scarcity, due to overconsumption and the climate crisis, by banning them in residences and hotel rooms, along with effective control of drilling.

• Restricting rather than encouraging the creation of new tourist beds, pointing out the worsening of the problem that the continued increase in the supply of tourist beds of all categories will create in the additional increase in tourist concentrations in the high tourist season and in the further overloading of the already deficient infrastructure for a large number of islands, which requires at least a change of priorities (first the infrastructure that ensures quality of life for residents).

• Immediate funding of a study to assess the carrying capacity of the islands, in order to examine whether they can withstand further tourism growth and the preparation of a road map for their transition to a state of sustainable development before the completion of the Local Urban Plans.

The Network for Sustainable Cyclades, from the day of its establishment, has been struggling to address the sustainability issues of the islands, which mainly and primarily concern the permanent residents – who in some islands are now experiencing a deteriorating reality, between a difficult winter of isolation and interruption of activities and a summer where their island does not belong to them – through the reversal of the tourism model, aiming to transform tourism into a sustainable driving force for their economy.

The islands of the Cyclades are places of life and culture for millennia. We welcome investments that contribute to improving the lives of residents and visitors alike, as well as promoting the world-class cultural wealth of our islands.