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WHILE THE GREEK government has been quick to blame global warming for the summer’s devastating wildfires, some experts argue that poor planning is at least as much to blame.
This week, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told parliament that the fires that have burned across Greece are expected to destroy over 1500km2 of land.
The European Commission has said that the blaze in the Dadia national park, which has been burning for two weeks now, is the largest European fire on record.
So far, fires have claimed the lives of 26 people.
“Is the climate crisis the alibi for everything?” said Mitsotakis.
“No, it is not an alibi, but it is part of the interpretation.”
Climate change is a factor the government has returned to repeatedly in the context of the wildfires but, as Mitsotakis appeared to at least implicitly acknowledge, it is not the whole story.
This year’s fires are certainly stronger than those of previous years because of climate change, said Alexandros Dimitrakopoulos, head of Forest Protection and the Wildland Fire Science Lab at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.
But he said that does not fully explain the extent of the damage, pointing out that 10 percent of the country’s woodlands had gone up in smoke since 2007.
“Better planning in the fight against fires is needed, as well as better cooperation between the fire services and the specialists in geomorphology of wooded zones,” said Dimitrakopoulos.
Geomorphology is the scientific study of the form or shape of the land.
Kostas Lagouvardos, research director at the National Observatory of Athens, made a similar point, arguing that the emphasis should be on adequate measures to prevent forest fires.
But the recurring problem, he said, was the dysfunctional relationship between the state and scientific bodies.
The scientific tools exist and can help detect and prepare for difficult climatological conditions
These difficult conditions include the extreme drought that has struck the Evros region near the border with Turkey and other regions.
Opposition politicians took a similar line during a fierce parliamentary debate Thursday.
They accused the government of having been too slow to put preventative measures in place and of poor coordination between the various government agencies concerned.
Mitsotakis, hitting back, referred to the growing climate crisis, the summer’s extended heatwave in Greece and the hot dry winds that had fuelled the fires.
He pointed out that Greece was far from being the only country to suffer such massive wildfires, pointing to similar disasters this summer in Canada, Spain and the United States.
He argued that even those countries – “with greater financial capacity than Greece” – were unable to cope with the fires.
He also announced he would be recruiting more firefighters and buying equipment such as drones to help monitor future disasters.
Mitsotakis had sharp words for “certain scientists” who, he said, saw fit to publish their data on the wildfires in the news media – such as the extent of the terrain burnt – when the research that might have put the figures in context had not been completed.
However, the National Observatory of Athens defended itself in a statement issued on Friday.
“In a democracy and in the era of published data at the European and international level, science and the national research centres are obliged to inform society of the results of their activities and the natural conditions that affect the lives of citizens,” it said.
© Agence France-Presse
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The vitriol heaped upon the heads of those of us here who regularly highlighted this fact was shocking. Absolutely shocking.
Look at the science they demanded and then produced reams of ‘Scientific’ evidence ten foot long, which no one actually ever reads but looks good on paper.
Their refusal to even countenance the possibility the fires were started by humans only further served the growing realization that there are huge vested interests behind this Climate Doom Agenda paying the MSM to push it out 24 hours a day until humanity is cowed down and compliant.
And yes, I certainly do include you The Journal as part of this propagandisement.
@Tommy Haze: Nobody denied that there was arson involved. The fires spread rapidly because of climate change.
@Tommy Haze: It’s an interesting tactic of the anti-everything brigade to rewrite history on a regular basis. Nobody refuted the claims that there were fires caused intentionally. What you conveniently ignore is the suggestion that those fires were more fierce, burned for longer, and covered more ground because of heat and dryness caused by record-high temperatures.
@Tommy Haze: ‘Vitriol’ my eye. People calmly pointed out, as Alan and Jason have done here, the deliberate misrepresentation deployed by denialists who are working to further their own cynical agenda (as you are doing here).
@Tommy Haze: The article clearly states that climate change is part of the problem.
@alan wallace: Explain how please
@ray murphy: Extreme heat and dryness.
@ray murphy: heat actually helps fire. It’s a new discovery
@ray murphy: Because climate change is creating warmer and drier conditions, causing wildfires to spread more rapidly.
@alan wallace: you are aware that there have been wildfires in Greece since Homer wrote the Iliad.
During the period 1961–1997 there was a statistically significant increasing trend and a positive correlation between the number of fires and area burned and the annual drought episodes in Greece (7,22). Summer drought episodes did not show any particular trend for the same period. The average number of fires and area burned were significantly higher in Greece during the sub-period 1978–1997, when Greece entered a prolonged period of drought, compared to the previous sub-period 1961–1977 (7). From a statistical analysis of fire occurrence in Greece during 1900–2010 it was concluded that total area burned at the national scale is controlled by precipitation totals rather than air temperature (12). A study on the Mediterranean region on fire trends in Portugal, Spain, southern France, Italy, and Greece in the period 1985-2011 revealed a general decreasing trend of the total annual burned area in all countries, with the exception of Portugal (24).
@Jason Memail: If there forest management is like here, they haven’t a hope.
Go to to a place like Boora wood.
They put in the fire breaks, but don’t maintain them. They are full of vegetation, ideal for fires to jump to other areas.
Yesterday’s conspiracy theory is today’s truth.
@James Groden: No, it’s still garbage.
Where’s all the nutcases with their climate bollox?
@Eric Gaffney: are you talking about the nutcases who are still denying man made climate change? Unbelievably, there are still some around. They’re like the trumpers at this stage; getting more and more quiet as the evidence mounts!
@Bill Spill: Ah there ye are.
@Eric Gaffney: yup! Sane, with science to back me up! Not like the climate change deniers who have to rely on how they feel.. you know the kind
@Bill Spill: Same as Covid, right?
@Eric Gaffney: 100%. Always follow the science myself. Great thing about it is it changes when it gets new evidence. Sure you know yourself I’m sure!
@Eric Gaffney: but I agree covid brought out the science-deniers and other “nutcases”, as you say
@Bill Spill: C’mon show us the evidence.
@ray murphy: evidence of climate change? Are you for real? If you haven’t copped on by now, I’m doubting you’ll hear any evidence
@ray murphy: scienceexchange.caltech.edu/topics/sustainability/evidence-climate-change there you go ray
@Bill Spill: It’s pointless arguing with people who are down the conspiracy theory rabbit hole.
@Bill Spill: THats NOt SCienCe. I have science too. Mine is different to yours.
@Eric Gaffney: no, you’ve got feelings eric… not the same buddy!
Eamon sure it’s global catastrophic overheating.
Wants all walking till Christmas.
@Davy: Eamon will lead us to the promised land, where everyone is vegan,works from home and cycles and walks .
But climate change
@mainmsam: The article clearly states that climate change is part of the problem.
@Brendan O’Brien: BOB
Surely spending a few quid could provide fire breaks
Are these the same Experts that blamed it on climate change
@Patrick Presley: If you read the article you will see that climate change and poor planning both contributed to the devastation, according to the experts who are quoted. But reading beyond a headline is probably too much for you.
The headline is irresponsible. Experts said that poor planning was *partly* to blame for the devastation, along with climate change.
@Rowe: Alexandros Dimitrakopoulos, head of Forest Protection and the Wildland Fire Science Lab at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, for one (as in the article).
@Brendan O’Brien: You heard him. The Unholy Trinity of ‘so-called experts’, WEF and vaccines. People like @Rowe won’t listen to anyone except their misguided feelings.
have your say