Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-09-14-Speech-1-163"
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"en.20090914.25.1-163"2
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"Mr President, the past year has been one of the most tragic for forest fires. We have lost hundreds and thousands of hectares of forest, especially in the Mediterranean region. Conjecture as to the causes of forest fires leads to heated rows as, unfortunately, everyone is aware of their consequences. It has been proposed that climate change is responsible for the increase in the number of forest fires and that in Europe, too, we should prepare for longer forest fire seasons than just June to September, which has been the norm until now. Summers are beginning earlier and they are warmer and drier, especially in the south, and the risk of fires is therefore growing. It is true that, exceptionally, this year there were severe forest fires in northwest Span and in Portugal as early as March, and that conditions for forest fires are therefore favourable, but the problem itself lies not in any progressive change to natural conditions, but elsewhere.
Environmental researchers have discovered that forest fires in the EU, Australia and California are mainly explained by socio-economic factors. They can find no direct link to climate change as yet. The key factors in the start of forest fires are construction and the pressures associated with the need for more housing, farming, certain species of plants and trees that have been grown, a lack of knowledge and foresight, and negligence on the part of the authorities. For example, insufficient numbers of fire-fighting teams and the inability to solve and prevent crimes that might result in fires are behind the tragedies this summer.
With climate change, natural conditions will change; that is a fact. It does not, however, explain environmental disasters, especially if the same phenomena recur every few years, and that is why we might need to be better prepared. It is time the Member States of the Union took a look in the mirror, because in the future, whether or not forest fires occur will depend on us. It is one thing to adapt to the changing environment; it is quite another to accept rigid bad practices and be unprepared."@en1
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