Olympic games 'destroying wildlife habitats'

Organisers of the Olympic Games in Athens have destroyed vital wildlife habitats, a trail of destruction which is threatening to spread to nearby mountains, the World Wide Fund for Nature said today.

“Without positive action by the International Olympic Committee and the promoters of candidate sites, the reputation of the games as a centre of excellence will be tarnished by a trail of environmental degradation,” the ecological pressure group said in its 20-page report prepared by WWF-Greece.

The WWF environmental assessment gave Athens high marks for improving the mass transit network and removing large advertising signs, but said in most other areas it had fallen far short of Olympic ideals.

The group said authorities have failed to incorporate green energy, water-saving programs and recycling into their plans, and that natural areas, including the mountains of Parnitha, Hymettus and Pendeli, are now ”trapped” within Olympic constructions and road networks.

WWF said “serious and irreversible damage” had been done to the Schinias wetland and coastal forest by the construction of a rowing and canoeing centre, and green space had been lost within Athens, when refurbishing existing facilities could have avoided it.

The report attacked what it called “the indifference of the IOC”, saying the committee failed to force the Athens organisers to uphold the environmental regulations that are set out in the Olympic Charter.

“The IOC must respect the environmental component of the Olympic Games and ensure the mistakes of Athens will not be repeated by future host cities,” WWF said.

“Unfortunately, the environment never figured as a priority in the planning of the Athens Olympic Games”, which begin next month, said Demetres Karavellas, chief executive of WWF-Greece.

“While the IOC calls the environment its third pillar of Olympism, it has done very little to keep this from crumbling under the weight of other priorities.”

The IOC insisted that respect for the environment was a priority.

“We have worked closely with the Athens Organising Committee to ensure environmental protection measures were considered right from the start,” said IOC spokeswoman Giselle Davies.

“We note that, just today, the Greek Environment and Public Works Ministry placed orders with the municipality of Athens for implementing projects that include environmental measures such as tree planting,” she said.

There was no immediate reaction from Greek Olympic organisers.

Among the good things to emerge from the games was the improvement of public transport within Athens, WWF said.

“The speeding up of major transport infrastructure works, such as the metro, the introduction of a fleet of gas-powered buses, the urban rail and the tram make a positive contribution to the public transport services,” the report said.

But instead of planting hundreds of thousands of Mediterranean trees and bushes as promised, authorities have only “hastily” landscaped around Olympic venues, it said. Most of the plants are non-native and need to be watered, despite concerns about water shortages during the games, WWF said.

It said piles of debris also had been abandoned near construction sites.