BYRON ANTIPAS
His fight for the protection of Greek Nature
A founding member and driving force of the Hellenic Society for the Protection of Nature, and its Secretary General for 35 years, the late Byron Antipas was a pioneer of the environmental movement in Greece. His name is linked to the first efforts for nature conservation at a time when protection of the environment was little known as an idea, and incomprehensible to most as a necessity.
Born in Constantinople, in 1909, Antipas arrived in Greece with his family in 1922 and settled in Kavala. After his studies in the School of Trade there, he was employed βυ the Bank of Greece and began to develop his interest in nature while climbing mountains as a member of the local chapter of the Hellenic Mountaineering Association. At the outbreak of WW II, Antipas was one of the first to join the 1st Mountaineering Regiment of the Greek Army, which was created with the assistance of the Mountaineering Association.
After the end of hostilities, Antipas moved to Athens, where he became a member of the Executive Board of the Hellenic Mountaineering Association and embraced the emerging movement for the protection of nature with a passion.
At the helm of the HSPN
After the formation of the HSPN in 1951, Antipas literally found his calling. In 1958 he was elected Secretary General. Even though this was a voluntary post, his involvement was so great that, in 1967, he decided to resign his important position of Inspector General of the Bank of Greece and devote his life to the Society. His foresight, his systematic efforts and his personal and financial sacrifices allowed the uninterrupted operation of the HSPN, which, at the time, was entirely dependent on the meagre dues of its few members. For many years, Antipas’ home was also the office of the Society; armed with an old typewriter, he took on all responsibilities, from clerk to Secretary General. Under such conditions, with the general public still indifferent to environmental issues and the relevant authorities often negative if not hostile, Antipas played a decisive role in the nature conservation movement in Greece. He managed to do this through the activities of the HSPN, which was the first organised group of people with plans and a vision for nature protection, but also by using HSPN as a nursery for people whose enthusiasm would, in the future, lead them to found other environmental NGOs dedicated to the study and protection of our flora and fauna.
Byron Antipas was responsible for the first efforts for the conservation of important species such as the Cretan Wild Goat (which became the emblem of the HSPN), the Mediterranean Monk Seal, the now-widely-known Loggerhead Turtle, the Brown Bear, the White Stork, and many other mammals and birds. The countrywide census of White Stork populations by the HSPN in 1974, carried out in co-operation with the then Ministry of Agriculture, was a revolutionary and internationally important undertaking that provided the much-needed numbers of actual nesting birds. To Antipas we also owe the donation, by Theodoros Garofalidis, of a building in the Evros Delta, which was equipped and used as a Biologic Station for many years.
Furthermore, the contribution of Antipas as advisor to relevant authorities, mainly the Ministries of Agriculture and of Coordination, was instrumental for the establishment of National Parks and other protected areas, as well as for the improvement of environmental legislation. At the same time, because of his invaluable expertise and determination, he was appointed by the state to represent Greece at many international fora.
National representative
In 1971, Byron Antipas travelled to Iran, at his own expense, in order to represent Greece at the Convention for Wetlands of International Importance, hence known as the the Ramsar Convention. Antipas signed the convention as the official representative of Greece. With his signature Greece undertook to protect the 11 wetlands it had designated for inclusion in the convention’s list. During the following years, Antipas represented Greece at numerous international meetings, such as the First European Conference on Environmental Conservation Education in Rueschlikon, Switzerland, (1971); the International Conference on the Conservation of Wetlands and Waterfowl in Heiligenhafen, Germany (1974); the first World Conference on Birds of Prey, in Vienna, Austria (1975); the World Conference of the International Waterfowl Research Bureau (IWRB) at Lake Ohrid, Yugoslavia (1977); the General Assembly of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), in Ashkhabad, Turkmenistan (1978), and many more.
Equally important was Antipas’ contribution to similar meetings held in Greece, such as the General Assembly and Technical Meeting of the IUCN in Athens (1958); the First International Conference on the Mediterranean Monk Seal in Rhodes (1978), and the National Conference on the Protection of Fauna and Habitats, in 1979, inaugurated by the then President of the Democracy of Greece, Konstantinos Tsatsos.
When Greece was readmitted to the Council of Europe, the Foreign Ministry appointed Antipas as the country’s permanent representative to its Information Centre for Nature Conservation in recognition of his continuing participation during the period 1971-1974, when Greece had withdrawn its membership. His appointment was actually recommended by the Secretariat General of the Council of Europe, which underlines the fact that international organisations held Byron Antipas in very high esteem. Antipas also worked closely with the IWRB as national representative.
Through his extraordinary ability to establish strong bonds with major international organisations and lasting friendships with key figures of the environmental movement, Antipas managed to focus their attention on critical issues regarding Greek nature, and, in many instances, to solicit their help in addressing them. He became secretary of the Greek Chapter of the International Council for Bird Preservation (later renamed Birdlife International) and an active member of the IUCN’s Working Group for the Conservation of Greek Nature. Furthermore, many of his foreign friends, researchers and nature enthusiasts, became members of the HSPN; indeed two groups, acting as chapters of the HSPN, were formed in Germany and the UK. His close friends included remounted environmentalist Luc Hoffmann, one of the founders of the now-well-known World Wildlife Fund (WWF International), with which the HSPN began a close collaboration in 1969.
Awards
The efforts and contributions of Byron Antipas have been widely acknowledged both in Greece and abroad, and he received numerous awards including: the Pro Merito Medal of the Council of Europe in 1980; Honorary Membership to the WWF International, and a Honorary Diploma awarded by its then President, Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, in London, in 1981; the Peter Joseph Lenne Medal in Gold, from the Johann Wolfgang von Göthe Foundation, Basel, Switzerland, in 1982; the Gold Medal of the Bulgarian State Committee for the Environment, in 1983; the first ever Honorary Award of the Goulandris Museum of Natural History for his 40-year-long contribution to the protection of Greek nature, in 1990; the Samourkas Foundation Award by the Academy of Athens, in 1991; and an award from the Society for the Protection of Prespa for his contributions to nature conservation in the Prespa area, in 1994.
Byron Antipas was the soul of the HSPN for 35 years. Having passionately pursued the protection of Greek nature for over 40 years he died, in 1997, satisfied that his efforts had born fruit through the dynamic expansion of the Society.
“I hardly ever saw him”, says his wife, Milena Antipas, trying to portray the devotion of her husband to the noble cause he so diligently served. It was a cause she shared with him, with love and respect.
The work of this modest warrior for the environment is best summarised by the words of the prominent American environmentalist David Brower, who, during a visit to Athens, in 1975, spoke of “… one man’s conservation movement in Greece”.
