LIFE GrIn project Promoting urban integration of GReen INfrastructure to improve climate governance in cities (LIFE17GIC_GR_000029) aims to incorporate climate governance in the management of green infrastructure at the local level through the establishment of an integrated policy framework focusing on Urban Green Areas. The project will support the development and incorporation of coherent climate governance in the management of urban green infrastructure through the Ministry of Environment and Energy, focusing on urban green areas. It will build on the implementation of concrete actions in two Greek Municipalities and the communication of its results through dissemination activities, as well as its replicability and transferability strategy targeting mostly other municipalities and key stakeholders in Greece and other EU countries. Central Union of Hellenic Municipalities, as a supporter of the Covenant of Mayors, will hold a key role in communication activities at the municipal level. This means the reconsideration of urban green areas, not as isolated units, but as vital elements of the urban landscape with their own contribution to the goals of sustainability, adaptation and mitigation of the effects of climate change.

Addressing the emerging challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic, the LIFE Grin project team attempted to assess citizens’ impressions of the role of urban green spaces during the Covid-19 pandemic in Greece.

The evaluation was based on the implementation of an electronic questionnaire survey through the Google forms platform, which was conducted nationwide. The questionnaire was posted on meteorological webpage www.meteo.gr, which is managed by the National Observatory of Athens. The survey was conducted from November 25, 2020 to December 15, 2020 and 731 responses were collected.

In the following link there are some of the questionnaire’s key findings: GRIN_Covid_Questionaire Results

The second annual mission of the project Promoting urban integration of GReen INfrastructure to improve climate governance in cities (LIFE17GIC_GR_000029) took place on 23-24 of January 2020, in the premises of the Institute of Mediterranean Forest Ecosystems and Forest Products Technology in Athens.

Representatives of every partner participated in the meeting and Ms. Sophia Papageorgiou, member of the external monitoring team for LIFE projects in Greece and Cyprus, carried out the technical and financial evaluation of the project. Initially, Ms. Papageorgiou was briefed in detail about the development of the project and verified the progress towards agreed actions and targets, while she apprised the project team about the latest developments in LIFE projects’ evaluation procedures.

On the second day of the monitor the LIFE GrIn project team accompanied Mrs Papageorgiou to a monitor visit to the pilot areas of the Municipality of Amaroussion.

On October 17, 2019, the second meteorological station was installed in the context of the implementation of the LIFE GrIn project, in the Municipality of Heraklion. During the installation works the researchers from the Hellenic Agricultural Organization “DEMETER”, Institute of Mediterranean Forest Ecosystems, Dr. K. Tsagari and Dr. E. Avramidou, with Mrs. E. Fragkouli, Mr. E. Trantas and Mr. E. Paraskevas, foresters and agriculturists of the Municipality, were present and supervising, while Mrs A. Panagiotou, director of Public Relationships and Mrs D. Chamakioti, responsible for the international relationships of the Central Union of Municipalities of Greece (KEDE) were present.

The station has been installed in an urban green area of the Municipality, where works of establishment, protection and enhancement of urban green will take place, and it is able to automatically record high-precision data concerning of air temperature, relative humidity, soil temperature and humidity, ground heat flux, total solar and photosynthetic active radiation, wind velocity and turbulence, precipitation etc. The meteorological and micro-meteorological data will be recorded in a ten-minute time step.

Additionally, the LIFE GrIn team met with the Deputy Mayor of green Mr. Ioannis Anastasakis, in order to discuss urban forestry and urban green management issues. In the meeting a consultation has been planned, with stakeholders relative to urban forestry and urban green, that will take place in the Center for Structured Democratic Dialogue, Innovation and Entrepreneurship “Dimiskopio”, in November.

On September 24, 2019, the first meteorological station was installed in the context of the implementation of the LIFE GrIn project. During the installation works the researchers from the Hellenic Agricultural Organization “DEMETER”, Institute of Mediterranean Forest Ecosystems, Dr. K. Tsagari and Dr. N. Proutsos, with Mr. Th. Merkouris and S. Chochliouros, the agriculturists of the Municipality of Amaroussion, were present and supervising.

The station was installed in an urban green area of the Municipality, and it is able to automatically record high-precision data concerning of air temperature, relative humidity, soil temperature and humidity, ground heat flux, total solar and photosynthetic active radiation, wind velocity and turbulence, precipitation etc. The meteorological and micro-meteorological data will be recorded in a ten-minute time step.

On Friday, 19 of April 2019, at the “Eleftherios Venizelos” Hall in Loggia, the Mayor of Heraklion Mr. Vasilis Lambrinos, sealed the Participation of the Municipality in the Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy, implementing the relevant decision of the Municipal Council.

Signing the Covenant of Mayors, the Municipality of Heraklion started to promote actions and measures to improve the city’s energy efficiency, to increase the use of renewable energy sources and reduce CO2 emissions by at least 40% by 2030.

Given the opportunity the Mayor said that the Municipality of Heraklion has already updated the Sustainable Energy Plan, in order to address the impacts of climate change, to reduce the environmental footprint and enhance energy efficiency.

The signing of the Covenant of Mayors is an important milestone for the project Promoting urban integration of GReen INfrastructure to improve climate governance in cities (LIFE17GIC_GR_000029).

More Information for the Covenant of Mayors: https://www.eumayors.eu/

The 1st Info Day, in the frame of the project LIFE GrIn Promoting urban integration of GReen INfrastructure to improve climate governance in cities (LIFE17GIC_GR_000029) took place in the Municipality of Heraklion, on Friday 15-03-2019.
The meeting was welcomed by the Mayor of Heraklion Mr Vasilis Lamprinos and the Chief Executive Officer of Urban Green Mr Nikos Fakourelis.

During the Info Day, there had been interesting presentations about the establishment and the protection of the urban vegetation and biodiversity, urban forestry and the role of the sustainable management of urban green areas on the mitigation and adaptation to climate change.

The presentations were of a high scientific level, and they attracted the attention of the attendees, while a Q&A session with the audience had been followed up.

The 1st Info Day, in the frame of the project LIFE GrIn Promoting urban integration of GReen INfrastructure to improve climate governance in cities (LIFE17GIC_GR_000029) took place in the Municipality of Amaroussion, on Friday 01-03-2019.
The meeting was welcomed by the Mayor of Amaroussion and President of Central Union of Municipalities of Greece Mr. George Patoulis.

Furthermore Mr. Georgios Protopapas, on behalf of the LIFE Greek Task Force – National Focal Point, analyzed the dimensions of the LIFE Program in Greece, and more specifically in Attica, while highlighting the importance of this program for the urban areas. The meeting was also attended by the Director-General of Agricultural Research of HAO-DEMETER Dr Eirini Pittara.

Afterwards, the presentations of the Forest Service Agents, Researchers and Scientific Associates were on the fields of Urban Green and Urban Forestry, and their role on the adaptation of cities to climate change, focused on the sustainable management, conservation and protection of urban green infrastructure, the biodiversity in urban green areas, and the environmental awareness of the citizens.

All the presentations were interesting, of a high scientific level, and they attracted the attention of the attendees, while many questions were made, in which both the speakers and the executives of the Municipality of Amaroussion responded, while recording the proposals of the public.

On February 19-24, 2019 – the kick off meeting of the European Development Institute (EDI) was organized in Tirilye, Turkey. During the meeting, Dr. Aimilia Kontogianni and Mr. Christos Georgiadis – assistant project managers – presented the scope and the actions of the LIFE GrIn project, representing Homeotech Co.
During the meeting 41 participants from 7 European countries presented and dealt with issues regarding good environmental practices, sustainability, climate change, social inclusion actions for vulnerable groups etc. Furthermore, a workshop around networking and communication practices took place.
The meeting was welcomed by the mayors of Bursa and Mudanya.

On November 26, 2018, a 3-day study visit in the Municipality of Heraklion (Crete) was held from a delegation of the Institute of Mediterranean Forest Ecosystems of the Hellenic Agricultural Organization ‘Demeter’ and the Environmental Management Company HOMEOTECH Co. The overall project has been presented to the Mayor Mr. Lambrinos, by the coordinator of the project Dr. K. Tsagkari. The aim of the study visit was to explore the current situation of Urban Green Areas and to select pilot areas for the implementation of the projects’ actions. The above meeting is within the context of the preparatory actions pf the project and particularly in regard with the elaboration of a report on the overall assessment of the current situation in the partner municipalities and a SWOT analysis.

On October 2-3, 2018, the LIFE GrIn team attended the kick-off meeting of the LIFE17 programme for Climate Change in Brussels in the premises of Crowne Plaza Hotel. Representation of the project was performed by Mrs. Constantinia Tsagari, Project Coordinator and Director of the Institute of Mediterranean Forest Ecosystems of the Hellenic Agricultural Organization ‘Demeter’ and Mrs. Despoina Vlachaki, Executive member of HOMEOTECH Co.

At the meeting general issues were presented and discussed in regard to the following:

• The policies and rules of the European Commission as well as of the LIFE programme
• The interaction among the coordinating partners of the LIFE projects with EASME, as well as the monitoring and advising services that will be provided by ΝΕΕΜΟ team to all LIFE projects
• The obligations of the LIFE projects on financial and technical issues as well as on matters that relate to the dissemination of the project.

The above meeting has been an opportunity of familiarizing with other LIFE projects that have now started and which refer to climate change issues. Finally, the kick-off meeting worked as a networking platform among the participating projects dealing with common action fields.