It’s been 10 years since the catastrophic wildfire on Mount Parnitha, a few miles north of Athens. For over a week the fire, which started at the end of a record-breaking heat wave that baked the entire country with temperatures as high as 47 degrees in the hottest locations, burned much of the mountain’s forestland, fueled by strong winds and low humidity. It was one of the costliest wildfires to hit Greece and its effects are still being felt on the mountain to this day. But a decade after the disaster, there is a sense of optimism.
The results of reforestation efforts in the years that followed, combined with natural regeneration, have begun to show. Nevertheless, the lack of any systematic effort to educate the general public in environmental issues remains. This is evident in the fact that despite the Parnitha disaster, people can still be observed discarding trash on the roadsides, letting their dogs run loose, feeding deer and other potentially harmful behavior.
On June 26, the 10th anniversary of the Parnitha fire, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) organized a hike to the areas that burned. The event was the outcome of collaboration with key stakeholders in the protection and regeneration of the mountain, among them the national park monitoring body, the Parnitha forestry authority and the Reforestation Division of Attica.
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Photo Source: Wikimedia Commons Copyright: Jola i Dimitris License: CC-BY-SA
Source: ekathimerini.com
