Celebrating World Environment Day with a field trip to Martsalo

World Environment Day was celebrated in Crete by the LIFE Phoenix project with a field trip to the Martsalo Palm Forest on Sunday, 7 June 2026.

The aim of the event was to offer local communities a hands-on opportunity to discover the Cretan Palm (Phoenix theophrasti), one of Crete's most iconic tree species—widely recognized, yet still largely unfamiliar to many local residents.

Ten participants from the wider Asterousia area joined us on this short but meaningful excursion. They had the opportunity to observe Cretan palms in their natural environment, learn about their biology, become familiar with the characteristic vegetation of the habitat and the area's native plant species, and gain a better understanding of the threats and pressures affecting this unique ecosystem.

During the field trip, participants were able to identify first-hand the impacts of climate change, invasive plant species, overgrazing, and tourism pressure under real field conditions. On that very day, both visitors and goats were present in the gorge, vividly illustrating some of the challenges facing the habitat. Despite these pressures, we were delighted to find several young palm seedlings growing along the streambed. Even more encouraging was the participants' own initiative to protect some of these seedlings by “creating” simple protective enclosures around them.

The enthusiastic questions raised throughout the excursion, the valuable conservation ideas proposed by the participants themselves, and their willingness to take part in future volunteer activities, if needed, clearly demonstrated that the event was both highly successful and truly meaningful.

The day concluded with light refreshments offered by the project and a promise to organize a similar event at the Agios Nikitas Palm Forest—following the participants' enthusiastic request.