A recent study by the University of Ioannina in collaboration with the Society for the Protection of Biodiversity of Thrace, warns that the installation of wind farms in Thrace may have a serious impact on the survival of the Cinereous and Griffon vultures. The research focused on assessing the collision risk of the two vultures and its population-level impact according to data up to 2022 and for a wider area of the one burnt in 2022 and 2023.

Even in the most optimistic scenarios, the results are alarming [!]:

• Annual collision mortality could reach up to 30% of the current Cinereous vulture population and 7% of the Griffon vulture population.

The study analysed three scenarios that collate the number of wind turbines (installed and planning) with the populations of Cinereous and Griffon vultures in Thrace (for Griffon vulture, is included the Bulgarian cross-border population, which has an increasing trend):

• over the next 20 years both vultures populations may stabilise or potentially increase, under the non-realistic scenario that no new wind farms will be installed.
• in 18 years the Cinereous vulture may extinct and the growth of the Griffon vulture population may slow significantly under the most optimistic scenario that will be added only the 85 wind turbines that were already licensed until 2022.
• within 2 to 5 years the Cinereous vulture and in 20 years the Griffon vulture face extinction under the less optimistic scenario,that the wind farms licensed until 2022 and the planned wind farms will be installed.

For the last twenty years (even more), Wind Farms in Thrace have been licensed within the critical habitats for protected bird species and despite the serious recorded impacts, the Administration continues permitting more projects. In fact, the Administration is ignoring scientific studies, the negative opinions of the scientific staff of competent authorities and in many cases even the legislation which includes action plans, conservation objectives for protected species, etc.

This study proves the risk of extinction of protected iconic species, so now, as never before, is urgent to stop the repeated mistakes in planning and licensing wind farms in Thrace.

Two years after the devastating fires in Evros with incalculable consequences for the protected ecosystems and species, we are all turning our efforts to forest restoration and the recovery of the protected species. It is crucial that the actions of the bodies under the leadership of the Ministry of Environment are consistent. Efforts by N.E.C.C.A. to conserve the population of the Cinereous vulture and other birds of prey in the area so that in the future the effects of fire on these species can be mitigated, are not consistent with the development of wind farms that even before the fires were already threatening existing populations with decline or extinction, as this research shows.

Read the full study here

See other related studies here: https://spbt.gr/downloads