Athens [Greece], August 9: Almost a quarter of Greece's most populous region, Attica, which is home to Athens, has been destroyed by forest fires in the last six years, said the Athens National Observatory on Tuesday.
Eleven major fires as well as a series of smaller fires have destroyed about 55,000 hectares of land since 2017 and up to and including July 2023. That corresponds to about 23 percent of mainland Attica, when the densely built-up city of Athens is excluded, meteorologist Konstantinos Lagouvardos told DPA on Tuesday.
The Observatory analysed data from the EU's Copernicus Earth observation service for the survey. In their statement, the scientists called for a "complete redefinition of the strategic management of forest fires." The experts did not explicitly cite climate change as a cause for the fires but made a link between extreme weather and fires. (DPA)
Source: Qatar Tribune