Welcome Address

Honourable Ministers of the Hellenic Government, representatives of the parties of the Opposition and the Local Government, distinguished Representatives of the United Nations Environment Programme and of the European Union, of the World Meteorological Organization, of NASA and of other International Institutions, colleagues of the Academy of Athens and of the Universities of Greece, distinguished Representatives of the Judicial, Administrative, Military and Police Authorities, esteemed Ladies and Gentlemen, we celebrate today, by organizing this International Symposium, the 20th anniversary of the historic date of September 16, 1987, when the Montreal Protocol was opened for signature, intended to counteract the grave problem of atmospheric ozone depletion, a problem with major consequences to life on Earth, while this treaty has been signed by all member countries of the United Nations.

This opportunity prompts me to remind us all that it is in this small country, small in terms of territory, but possessing a great historic and cultural past, where mention was first made of the environment and its impact on the physical and mental health of Man, but also on its possible impacts to Nature. Practically all pre-Socratic philosophers, known as “physiologists” studied nature and the environment. Hippocrates, in his work “On Airs, Waters, and Places,” examines the impact of the natural environment on the health, the physical and psychological condition of human beings, as well as on the development of their character. According to him, external physical factors affect the body and cause disease. Moreover, Aristotle, in his works “Physics” and “Politics,” stresses in many points the need for protecting the natural environment and for the immediate rescue of the animal and physical beings living in that, and primarily of the one thinking being, Man, to whom first and foremost is assigned the “salvation” of all other beings.