Natura 2000: Rare images of Greek nature in WWF competition

Silver pelican on Lake Kerkini, greater flamingo in Amvrakikos, lionfish in the Aegean, white vulture in the forest of Dadia, horses in Pindos – some of the topics of the 40 photos highlighted by the jury of this year’s Natura 2000 competition – Click in Nature.

The winners were announced on Tuesday by WWF Hellas, which organized the competition for the second year in collaboration with Photographer Magazine and Life-IP 4 Natura project partners.

First prize in the category Man and Nature. Speleologists in the cave of Oraio Varis or Antonov, in the area of ​​Ymittos.

More than 1,500 photos were submitted by professional and amateur photographers in the competition that highlights the beauty of the most ecologically valuable areas of Greece.

In this year’s competition, three winners emerged in each of the four categories: Man and Nature, Birds, Animals and Plants and Landscape.

First prize in the Animals and Plants category. Lake Carla dried up in 1962, but the impact on the ecosystem was found to outweigh the benefits. In 2010, the restoration began with water pumping from Pinios.

More specifically, in the category Man and Nature the 1st prize was awarded to Vassilis Drakopoulos, the 2nd prize to Genovefa Nestramiotis and the 3rd prize to Christos Pantazis.

In the Birds category, the 1st prize was awarded to Vassilis Theodoridis, the 2nd prize to Panagiotis Xaxiris and the 3rd prize to Miltiadis Kourboglou.

First prize in the Birds category. Silver Pelican (Pelecanus crispus) in the lake of Kastoria. It is the rarest of the seven species of pelicans and the second largest bird species on the planet.

In the Animals and Plants category, the 1st prize was awarded to Georgios Karkalis, the 2nd to Giannis Sapnos and the 3rd to Natasa Triantafyllou.

Finally, in the Landscape category, the 1st prize was awarded to Panos Laskarakis, the 2nd to Fotis Kafetsis and the 3rd to Thanasis Liapis.

First prize in the Landscape category. Tymfi area in eastern Zagori. Mountainous mass with intense relief, steep cliffs and green slopes with beech forests (Fagus sylvatica), spruce (Abies borisii-regis) and black pine (Pinus nigra).

The Natura 2000 network in Greece

The Natura 2000 network is the most valuable tool at our disposal for the preservation of our natural heritage, acting at the same time as a framework for achieving the necessary balance between nature protection and human activities, notes WWF Hellas.

“The LIFE-IP 4 NATURA Project is the most important project of the last decades for the protection of nature in Greece. Twelve partners (Ministry of Environment and Energy, University of Patras, Democritus University of Thrace, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, WWF Greece, Hellenic Ornithological Society, Region of Crete, Region of Eastern Macedonia & Thrace, Region of Attica, Attica Environment and Climate Change), under the coordination of RIS, join forces by designing new tools for protection and management and highlighting the opportunities offered by the harmonious coexistence of man with his natural environment.

The project is co-financed by the European Union LIFE program and the Green Fund.

More information: edozoume.gr