Environmental management in Greece and the challenge of sustainable development

Summary Environmental management is linked to decisions concerning sustainable development which peripheral countries would find quite challenging, given their development priorities and their demands for a restricted share in the burden of global environmental protection. This paper examines the Greek experience with the growing awareness of environmental problems in that country and in the light of current efforts to attain economic convergence with its northern European partners. The focus is on the analysis of the role of the political institutional system in sustainable development, embracing the government, the parliament and the political parties, the courts, and the local authorities. In addition, the role of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) is also summarized. The quest for sustainable development holds both positive and negative effects for Greece, and despite development priorities, there are some workable options available to follow a pathway of transition.graduate diplomas from the Institute of Business Management of the Graduate School of Economics and Commercial Sciences, Athens (Greece) and the School of Social Studies, University of East Anglia (UK), an MA in Economics from the University of Kent, Canterbury (UK), and a PhD in natural resources from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (USA). Dr. Lekakis served at the Centre of Planning and Economic Research (KEPE) in Athens for over 15 years, where he was in charge of the technical processing of Greece's five-year development plans in the area of environmental protection. He is currently on the faculty of the School of Social Sciences, University of Crete, Rethimno (Greece) where he teaches environmental and resource economics. His most recent research activity includes a just completed international water resource allocation project financed by the European Science Foundation (ESF), and an ongoing project on the institutional adjustment for sustainable development strategies in the European Union.