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| Saturday's high winds helped spread wildfires across Greece, scorching villages and sending smoke across the Ionian Sea, as
seen in this satellite image from NASA. NASA/AP |
Why is Greece on fire?
As at least 170 wildfires spread, many say that a lack of environmental protection is to blame.
from the August 27, 2007 edition
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"Most of the reasons concern changing of land use – from forest to something else [such as] construction, or building, or to grazing, or agriculture," explains Nikos Georgiadis, head forest officer for the Greek office of WWF (the World Wildlife Fund). "But the response from the government has not been effective at all."
But there is beginning to be a backlash against government inaction – as Greek villagers desperately battle blazes using garden hoses and buckets of water – that is likely to intensify as a result of this weekend's fires.
Earlier this summer, after a fire burned one of the last remaining forests on Mount Parnitha, near Athens, thousands of people took the streets outside the Greek parliament demanding more action from the government to protect forests and ensure that burned areas were replanted.
Many observers saw that fire as a turning point in local politics toward a greater green consciousness.
"People in Athens, but also around Greece, are becoming more green," says Dr. Georgiadis, who said that hundreds of people called the WWF office in the aftermath of that fire, outraged and offering to help. "Since the response that we got after the big forest fire on Parnitha mountain, there is a big change. More and more people became sensitive on environmental matters."
Greece has one of the worst records in the European Union on environmental issues, and on forest protection in particular. Environmental groups say recycling is in its infancy, development is largely unregulated, and protected areas neglected.
Although forested areas cannot legally be built on, that law is difficult to enforce because Greece – unlike every other country in the European Union – has no national record of what land is forested.
For now, the country is focusing on putting out the blazes and helping those affected. Thousands are now homeless and whole villages destroyed. At least 12 countries have responded to Greece's plea for international help.
But ultimately, says Georgiadis, Greece must develop a long-term plan for saving its natural spaces.
"Forests are an ecosystem that needs time to grow, time to manage," he says. "It's not something you can do in one or two weeks."
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