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Introduction
Trying on the map of the depopulation in inland areas of the Mediterranean, one can see that it overlaps to a big extent with the map of forest fires recorded by satellites. That is nothing new for researchers engaged on fires and local weather change: the connection between the 2 phenomena is well-known. But it might not be appropriate to attribute causality with out contemplating different components. To grasp the connection between fires and rural exodus, we went to the websites of essentially the most devastating fires of summer season 2021 in Spain, Italy, Greece and Cyprus.
Scorched earth. Half one: Italy and Greece
Half 2. Cyprus and Spain: forgotten landscapes
Curbing depopulation and caring for forests has each an environmental and a social worth. Lots of the funds allotted by the European Union for this objective aren’t used, and their actual impression shouldn’t be measured. In the meantime, the fires of summer season 2021 in Cyprus and Spain confirmed a basic pattern throughout Mediterranean Europe.
Within the village of Arakapas on the island of Cyprus, the variety of inhabitants has dropped from 500 to 160 in 30 years, and most of those folks at the moment are retired. Right here, final summer season noticed Cyprus’s largest fireplace in ten years, with 4500 hectares devastated.
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Just like the Montiferru space in Sardinia, the island of Evia in Greece, and lots of different components of the Mediterranean, the inland areas of Cyprus have additionally expertise…
