Fires in Greece and assessment of impacts in the NATURA 2000 network

Fire fronts throughout Greece, incalculable disasters in the forest ecosystems reveal the need to develop restoration actions, as they are recorded in the following article regarding the impacts of the wildland fires of the year 2023 on the habitat types of the Natura 2000 network

The greatest risk of destruction of our county΄s forests was and is forest fires, a phenomenon that has particularly intensified in recent decades. The forests of our country belong to the Mediterranean ecosystems, which since ancient times have been inhabited and influenced by various tribes and cultures and are degraded by human exploitation. Every summer, wildfires burn thousands of our precious forests and generally destroy the natural vegetation with incalculable consequences on the environment and the national economy. From May to September 2023 in Greece, 68 large fires were mapped which burned 173,000 ha. The impacts of fires on habitat types of the Natura 2000 network and some proposed post-fire actions in protected areas are included in the article by Dr Fotios Xystrakis, Researcher of the Institute of Forestry Research (fotios.xystrakis@elgo.gr), (info@fri.gr)