Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-05-15-Speech-2-272"
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"en.20010515.10.2-272"2
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".
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the Commission is well aware of the great damage caused by the forest fires that occur every year in the forests of the European Union, and particularly in Greece. In connection with this I would like to inform the honourable Member that in the next few weeks, within the framework of Regulation No 2158/92, the Commission will be approving a programme of protection against forest fires in Greece with funding to the tune of EUR 1.7 million earmarked for the year 2001.
To turn to your other questions, first: the average area reafforested annually in Greece in the period 1994 to 1999 totals 2 750 hectares. This is equivalent to 15% of the area of forest destroyed by fire in this Member State. The information available to the Commission only permits comparison with Portugal, where forest areas were restored at a rate of approximately 5 000 hectares per year in the same period; this equates to 14% of the area destroyed by forest fires.
Secondly, the area of forest destroyed each year by fire in the various Member States totals 73 500 hectares in Spain, approximately 50 000 hectares in Italy, 36 500 hectares in Portugal and 19 000 hectares in Greece.
Thirdly, it is very difficult for the Commission to assess efforts in Greece to restore areas of woodland destroyed by fire as of course there are numerous factors at play here. Reafforestation of the affected areas is – as you know – an integral part of national forestry policy and the success of restoration efforts depends especially on a number of key factors, namely the annual capability of Greece to undertake reafforestation, the chance of natural forest rejuvenation in the areas affected by fire damage and, lastly, the afforestation of new areas, for example areas used for agriculture. In certain cases this can create a substitute for the forest areas destroyed by fire. In the end, of course, success depends especially on the quality of forest fire prevention measures and on how well fire-fighting systems perform. These can help to reduce the extent of destruction caused by forest fires in years to come."@en1
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