Testudo graeca graeca is currently threatened by collecting for household pets and 'medicinal' use in Morocco, for manufacture of tourist souvenirs and by habitat losses resulting from human population growth and climatic change which have promoted desertification, urbanization and the intensification of agriculture.
The natural habitat of Testudo graeca graeca includes semi-arid scrub and Mediterranean forest, to the verges of semi-desert, where it can be found inhabiting outcrops of succulent Euphorbia.