File photo.
As firefighters continued to monitor a blaze that has been burning on and off on Kythira since Saturday, an expert warned that the island off the southeastern coast of the Peloponnese is at serious risk of “rapid desertification.”
Speaking to the state-run Athens-Macedonia News Agency, Professor Efthymis Lekkas, an expert in natural disaster management and head of Greece’s Earthquake Planning and Protection Organization, described the Kythira fire as a “major blow” to the island’s fragile ecosystem.
“The forest burned an area that was still recovering from the devastating 2017 fire; that area will now be nearly impossible to save,” he said, calling the situation “a critical environmental tipping point.”
The current blaze swept through the same part of the island where over 10,000 hectares were destroyed in 2017. Although the landscape had shown signs of natural recovery, this new fire may accelerate desertification.
“We are seeing the rapid degradation of Kythira’s ability to support both natural processes and human activity,” Lekkas warned.
“Soil erosion, water loss and a collapse of the ecosystem are possible,” he said, calling for a coordinated, long-term action plan involving both national and local authorities.
“Human interventions after such disasters often hinder rather than help recovery. What’s needed now is sustained, science-based management to prevent irreversible damage,” Lekkas said.
