ATHENS ( WNAM MONITORING ): Climate change poses a growing threat to Greece’s forestland, according to a new study released Monday.
The study by a research team at the University of Athens, whose findings were reported by daily Kathimerini, highlighted that wildfires in recent years grew increasingly aggressive and difficult to control.
“The effects of a compound event like a heatwave-drought are more severe, as the impact of each phenomenon does not simply add up, but rather intensifies the other, creating feedback cycles that prolong the duration of extreme conditions,” Kostas Filippopoulos, a member of the team, told the daily.
According to the study, the number of days experiencing both heatwave and drought conditions rose to 152 between 2001 and 2023, from 45 between 1974 and 2000.
Athina Zazani, a researcher involved in the study, said the highest number of days with concurrent heatwaves and droughts in 1971-2023 were seen in eastern Crete, the southern and western Peloponnese, Attica, Thessaly, and central Macedonia, with the latter two regions seeing the most extreme values.
The research team forecast that the number of days combining heatwave and drought conditions will rise nationwide between 2031 and 2060, with the eastern mainland, Crete, and the Cyclades expected to be hardest hit.
