Mid April 2026
It’s been three decades since I last toured the island of Lesvos. Vassiliki and I were here in July 1995 to map the wetlands of Kalloni and Gera Bays on contract with the Ornithological Society, for a project organized by the Greek Biotope Wetland Centre (EKBY). The report was an interesting exercise in identifying, delineating and organizing wetland conservation needs.
This time I am back on a survey of streams, conducting a rapid assessment of pressures on river water bodies. I am also keeping notes on birds, but I have severe lower back pain and am moving very slowly.
There are some things I want to say about the island, and especially about the reasoning behind promoting a “different” kind of tourism here. And generally saving the authentic character of this unique island. And specifically, Lesvos is particularly important for its ecotourism initiatives in Greece.
Firstly, the relative conservation status of the island’s landscapes: they are still largely intact, agro-pastoral, and in many places purely beautiful and authentic. Even the coastlines are well preserved. It is quite amazing. The island’s 300,000+ sheep help maintain a wonderful mosaic of agro-forested savannas, phrygana, pseudo-steppe, grasslands, rockscapes and heterogeneous maquis scrub, supporting a rich biodiversity of invertebrates, reptiles, and birds. Lesvos is also surprisingly wooded. There is no island in Greece with this extent of oak forest, but it is not just woodland—it is also the beautiful groves, dense and extensive pinewoods, rocky forested pastures, punctuated by jagged volcanic formations. It is a truly unique landscape, and all these habitats are widespread. The wider landscape is the issue here, its big and no hyperbole.
Secondly, the specifics of the biodiversity. The island holds two-thirds of all wetland area in the Aegean Greek islands. Unlike Chios for example, wetlands are everywhere and in many forms, primarily due to the island’s geology (impervious volcanic rocks) and topography (shallow bays, gulfs, and highly indented coastal plains) and wetness - the island is more northerly...closer to the Marmara and Black Sea! This spring has been particularly wet, and all wetlands were well flooded. Biodiversity, in all its forms, is rich both on land and at sea. I am not sure how well this has been studied, but for ichthyofauna we are still lagging far behind—and there are some very important freshwater fish species in the streams here. Sealife is interesting here (another long story). The asiatic component of the fauna also - Persian Squirrels! But little is catalogued, for example little is known about aquatic insects and stream faunas. Birds, however, are well studied.
Thirdly, in terms of natural history education and ecotourism identity, the island is among the richest and most enriching of the Greek islands, perhaps only rivalled by Crete and Corfu. I think better than Corfu at least (however both Corfu as is Euboea and Lesvos are all continental islands). Lesvos is the premier Greek island for birding and one of Europe’s best-known globally-distinguished birding destinations, with no fewer than three English-language birding guidebooks dedicated to it (i.e., Williams, Brooks, Dudley). The main “honeypot” area for birding is the small village of Skala Kalloni, located in the centre of the island next to its largest wetlands on the Bay of Kalloni. The island also hosts one of the best geological museums I have ever seen, including a unique thematic Natural History Museum exhibits - this at the Petrified Forest area, at its easternmost edge, in the windswept, ocean-like port of Sigri. In addition, the island has a dynamic university with several departments related to environmental studies, geography, and marine sciences. What an amazing place to build the University of the Aegean!
All this sounds really positive, but is the island’s nature, its cultural landscapes, and its scenic beauty truly protected?
Well, as one of the birding guidebooks on Lesvos eloquently notes: “Nature conservation as we know it in Europe is not practiced here”... (Dudley, 2007). And unfortunately, although this does sound extreme, a radical statement for sure, it does have some truth to it, even in 2026.
So, what are the problems?
- Protected areas do exist but they are are not managed for biodiversity conservation. Biodiversity in itself is poorly inventoried or monitored (with the exception of birds- where a lot of citizen science comes into play). Many stream suffer from anti-flood protection schemes that tears down woodlands of Platanus and rich riparian habitats nearly at every major stream even within the protected areas. In the hills, the conservation is happening, forests are growing back (we must acknowledge this) but it is due to the paradox of beneign neglect.
- “Benign neglect” is not enough! In Mediterranean landscape conservation, “benign neglect” refers to the passive protection of landscapes through the continuation of low-intensity traditional land uses and limited human intervention, allowing ecological processes and biodiversity patterns to persist without intensive management. In many Mediterranean regions, however, complete abandonment may eventually lead to shrub encroachment, increased wildfire risk, and the loss of semi-natural habitats historically maintained by grazing and small-scale agriculture.
- The island is facing a major rural depopulation and farming-collapse crisis. Sustaining the “working, living village” must be a priority for landscape management and biodiversity conservation. Without grazing and traditional land use, this richly heterogeneous mosaic of landscapes will collapse. If this abandonment continues, that would mean future mega-fires, expansion of closed shrub cover, loss of microhabitats for species dependent on open land, and rapid biodiversity decline.
- Water and wetlands may be common landscape features, but they must be better protected. We say many infringements, drainage-degradation, roading, anti-flood works wrongly developed, garbage dumping, in-filling near roads, small tourist buildings in wet areas, fencing, etc.
- Ecotourism promotion is not enough; it requires proper care of facilities and consistent, keen upkeep. The island’s ecotourism infrastructure is in poor repair, signage is poor, trash everywhere, ugly but localized sprawl close and inside many wildlife hotspots.
- The scenic beauty and naturalness, currently maintained largely through benign neglect, are now threatened by two major forces: a) over-development and construction for low-key tourism (moslty holliday home and small hotel building and roading) outside designated settlement areas, and b) industrial wind turbine expansion (threatening the wild western part of the island; which by the way is mostly protected in extensive Natura 2000 sites).
Some snap-shots follow....
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| One of the many small wetlands, this one near Eressos in teh beautiful western part of the island |
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Messa Wetland (aka ''Derbyshire''); one of the signature landscapes of Kalloni Bay (Photo: https://www.lesvosgeopark.
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In Attica (the surrounding area of Athens and Athens itself):
1,794 observations
650 species
117 observers
