Are gold mines the solution to Greece’s economic meltdown? After imposing bitter austerity, the Greek government is trying to revive the economy by pressing ahead with controversial new investment projects that threaten rare habitats across the country. In the ancient forests of the Halkidiki peninsula in the northern Greece, a massive mining concession of 31,700 hectares has recently been approved. Despite bitter protest by local communities, work on the mining concession by a Canadian-owned company has already begun.

Link TV’s Earth Focus, The Investigative Fund at The Nation Institute, and The Ecologist probe the potential permanent costs of Greece’s economic collapse — including irreversible environmental damage. Is the crisis, as one advocate alleges, being used as a convenient excuse for a serious environmental rollback?

Watch the full investigation below.

This article was reported in partnership with The Investigative Fund at The Nation Institute, now known as Type Investigations.