A Web Information System Application on Forest Legislation: The Case of Greek Forest Principles

Abstract

The Greek forest legislation is a very complicated issue, because of the existence of too many laws concerning the same topic. The definition of forest is critically important as it controls the scope of forest science. Numerous legitimate definitions of forest and forestlands have been published by the Greek authorities. A need to categorize and classify some complex parts of the Greek forest legislation is obviously essential. Nowadays new web technologies and Information and Communication Systems (ICTs) offer amazing capabilities for settlement of such projects. This paper presents a Web based Information System (WIS) that attempts to become a source of information about the Greek forest legislation. The WIS was named Gre.Fo.L (Greek Forest Legislation) and at this version (v.2.1) represents the definitions of the basic forest principles, located in the Greek legislation, through a historical review. The findings relate to the legitimate definitions since the establishment of the Greek state. Gre.Fo.L is designed to also study other environmental issues as it intends to expand in later versions.