Environmental alarm sounded for Greece

Ekathimerini (Greece): Greece was left in no doubt yesterday that it has to act quickly to improve its environmental policy as experts at an international conference in Athens warned of rising temperatures and more forest fires in the coming years. The Athens summit heard that temperatures in Greece would increase by between 1 and 3 degrees by 2060, which in turn will have an effect on water reserves and the country’s climate as a whole as there will be a smaller difference between the temperatures in northern and southern Greece.

Experts also warned that warmer weather and drought could lead to more wildfires. President Karolos Papoulias, who has spoken out in the past on environmental issues, used the opportunity to send a stark warning to all Greeks that they risk witnessing again fires similar to those that devastated parts of the Peloponnese and Evia last summer. “Our disregard for nature and the consequences of the overuse of its resources contributed to the disaster,” he said. “There are no more excuses. There is no more ignorance.”….

The old city of Monemvasia in the Peloponnese, viewed from the citadel. Photo by Joachim Hensel-Losch (a man who clearly enjoys a good climb), Wikimedia Commons, under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation license, Version 1.2