Mediterranean forest fires set to become 'norm': green group

ATHENS (AFP) - Greece's lethal forest fires of last year are set to become the norm across the Mediterranean thanks to climate change, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) warned Thursday.

Nearly 70 people were killed and 150,000 hectares (370,000 acres) of forest burnt to the ground in last August's fires, which were exacerbated by failings in the Greek firefighting emergency services.

"The most immediate and obvious repercussion of climate change for the Mediterranean forests is an increase in fires, which will also become more intense and widespread," a regional official from the WWF, Nora Berahmouni, said at an Athens conference.

The meeting of more than 30 experts on the subject agreed unanimously that higher temperatures, prolonged droughts and fierce storms would leave the forests more combustible.

Berahmouni called for action before it was too late to halt a "vicious circle" where less forest coverage due to climate change risks exacerbating the effects of global warming.

"Protecting forests must also now mean allowing them to adapt to global warming," said Greek forester Aristotle Papageorgiou, pleading for both more money and a root-and-branch reorganisation of the entire system of fighting forest fires.

Serious failings in the Greek system were blamed for not extinguishing the fires sooner, although a dry winter and a succession of heatwaves were contributing factors.

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