The roadless map of Greece

Scientific context
Roadless land conservation is a measurable tool to preserve the nature of high ecological integrity, hamper fragmentation, and address biodiversity decline (Ibisch et al. 2016; Kati et al. 2020). Greece has introduced a roadless legislation to this aim (BCL 2022; Kati et al. 2022) but risks rapid habitat loss from RES deployment (Kati et al. 2021). Biodiversity-inclusive spatial planning is needed, and roadless maps can be valuable tools for this aim under the Global and European Biodiversity Strategy.

Description
The dataset is the roadless map of Greece (5/2022), updating a previous work (Kati et al. 2020). Definitions: Roadless Core Area (RCA) is any land patch (excluding large waterbodies) that has a size greater than 1 km2 and lies at least 1 km away from the nearest road (accessible by motor vehicles, excluding paths). Roadless Area (RA) is the RCA and its 1 km buffer zone. Roadless Island (RI) and Roadless islet (Ri) are any non-artificial islands that are road-free in all their area, with a size above and below 1 km2, respectively. Roadless Fragmentation Indicator (RFI) is the percentage of RAs plus RIs of the Greek territory. Content: The dataset includes high-confidence data and consists of four sub-databases in kmz format: (a) 389 RCAs (different colors indicate five different size categories: 1-5, 5-10, 10-20,20-50 and >50 km2, (b) 389 RAs (including the RCAs), (c) 62 RI and (d) 3,456 Ris. Nota: The RFI is 6.1%. Most of the roadless sites had a size of over 1,000ha, lying in mountains and islands.

Significance, use, limitations
We recommend using the database to:
• Expand the Greek roadless legislation to roadless sites of at least 1,000ha.
• Include roadless sites in the strictly protected zones of the national network of protected areas (EC 2020).
• Identify new areas for expanding and connecting the network of protected areas (EC 2020).
• Define exclusion zones for new infrastructure development across sectors (SEAs) for Renewable Energy Sources, transport, tourism, industry, etc.
• Update the SEBI 13 indicator (EEA 2012) and monitor fragmentation in Greece in more natural ecosystems (RFI)
• Trigger policies toward landscape conservation and fragmentation minimization (CoE 2000; EC 2020).
• Identify wilderness areas of Greece and map old-growth forests

Funding
Green Fund of Greece: program “Natural environment and innovative environmental actions 2021”.

References
BCL 2022. https://bc.lab.uoi.gr/en/research/projects/roadless/
CoE 2000. https://www.coe.int/en/web/conventions/full-list/-/conventions/treaty/176
EC 2020. https://ec.europa.eu/info/files/communication-eu-biodiversity-strategy-2030-bringing-nature-back-our-lives_en
EEA 2012. https://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/streamlining-european-biodiversity-indicators-2020
Ibisch et al. 2016. http://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaf7166
Kati et al. 2020. https://doi.org/10.3390/d12040124
Kati et al. 2022. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abo2014