The Victorian minister of Energy, the Environment and Climate Change, Lily D’Ambrosio, has announced the appointment of John Pandazopoulos as the new chairperson of the Parks Victoria Board who is to serve for the next four years.

The minister said Mr Pandazopoulos who was a current member of the board and would serve as the new chairperson for the next four years had wide-ranging experience in in public policy, advocacy, governance, audit and risk, compliance and reporting requirements and will also bring extensive involvement in community consultation and representation.

The new chairperson had served on committees focusing on planning, projects, asset management and aboriginal engagement. The mother of Lisa Marty, the new deputy chairperson of the board, is Greek.

“For the first time in Parks history there are three Traditional Owners on the Board – reflecting the significant partnerships Parks has with all Traditional Owners,” Ms D’Abrosio added.

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Parks Victoria is responsible for 3,000 parks which covered 18percent of land on the state. This included 75percent of wetlands, 70 percent of the coastline. In all 4,300 native plant species and 1,000 native animal species are protected by Parks Victoria.

Mr Pandazopoulos told Neos Kosmos that Parks Victoria was the guardian of Victoria’s most valuable “green and blue” spaces. He said few people realized that with impact of climate change in the form of severe weather and fires were impacting on the parks.

“There are changes on the beaches and many people do not understand how much sand we add every year. A third of Melbourne’s beaches would not exist otherwise,” he said.

“We are losing plants and animals and the temperatures are changing… the balance is changing.”

He said that a quarter of the 1,000 native animal species and 40% of the 4,300 native plants in the parks were endangered.

“A lot of effort is being made ‘behind the scenes’ that people do not know of and some do not appreciate,” he said.

The organisation manages $5.5 billion worth of assets of which $2 billion was for infrastructure including park facilities, accommodation and piers that were needed and used by Victorians.

Rehabilitation work needed to be done in the areas that were severely affected by the recent fires, for the piers that remain closed and others that need “renewal”, after 30 and 50 years of operation. One example was the pier at St Kilda, which is expected to be rebuilt with a budget of $ 60 million.

Mr Pandazopoulos has extensive experience in the public service, having served for 22 years as a Dandenong MP, and as a state government minister with different portfolios. He is president of Destination Phillip Island and vice-president of the board of the William Angliss Institute.