After nearly a 20 year effort that was put in the proper site selection for wind farms in Thrace, who would have thought that there might be a request for the installation of 10 wind turbines within borders of the National Park of Dadia-Lefkimi-Soufli Forest at location called “Trikorfo” (southwest edge of the National Park). Protected birds of prey and vultures are threatened by constantly increasing number of wind farms installed in Evros and Rodopi Regional Units, even more when this happens within the National Park, the last stronghold for those species in the Balkans and Europe.

Considering the high negative impact of wind farm cumulative effects in many areas in Thrace and although the consequence of a last year’s catastrophic wildfire has not been estimated yet, it is a first time that an environmental impact study of a wind farm within the National Park was submitted for environmental licensing. According to the Joint Ministerial Decision of the National Park which has been in force since 2006, it is clear that wind farms are excluded from permitted activities in order to protect the birds of prey and vultures. However, it was not taken into account when submitting the request for the wind farm installation within the National Park.

"We hope that this is an April fool's joke and that the request will be immediately withdrawn from the environmental licensing process, moreover investors will express responsibility and respect in the future, thus no similar applications for wind turbines inside the National Park will come out" said Lefteris Kapsalis, the scientific associate of SPBT.

Based on the Electronic Environmental Register (EER) of the Ministry of Environment and Energy, the deadline for submitting opinions of relevant agencies and public consultation is 19^th of April 2023, heretofore there have been already negative opinions issued by some relevant agencies (not all). In the context of the public consultation, SPBT has posted an official letter to EER expressing its strong concern and opposition to this wind farm environmental licensing.