Forest ecology

“If no one had ever said, ‘Plant a trillion trees’, I think we’d have been in a lot better space”

New forests will be established in all 81 provinces in the country as part of a nationwide large-scale afforestation effort on the occasion of the National Afforestation Day on Nov. 11, Agriculture and Forestry Minister İbrahim Yumaklı has announced.

A forest fire in Greece is the largest recorded in the European Union, said a spokesman for the European Commission, quoted by "Guardian" and "AFP".

Eleven aircraft and a helicopter from the EU fleet have been sent to help fight the fire north of the city of Alexandroupolis along with 407 firefighters, Balazs Ujvari said on Tuesday.

Twelve major fires have burned more than 60,000 hectares in seven years, claiming a third (33%) of Attica's forests, according to the updated analysis by the National Observatory of Athens' Meteo service of data provided by the EU's Copernicus Rapid Mapping Service and the European Forest Fire Observatory (EFFIS).

Eleven large-scale fires in the Attica Region from 2017 to the end of July 2023 have destroyed over 55,000 hectares (550,000 stremmas), the National Observatory of Athens/meteo.gr said on Monday after data provided by the European Union's Copernicus mapping services and the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS).

Despite some efforts to downplay the Rhodes wildfire disaster, the 20,66 hectares of forest and farmland that burned have left an indelible mark on the island.

Clearing the accumulated biomass on the forest floor is a first step toward making the country's woodlands safer and not so fire-prone. But it is not enough, experts claim.

The rehabilitation works of some 90 percent of the 139,500 hectares of land damaged in forest fires last year have been completed, the head of the General Directorate of Forestry has said.

Noting that the rehabilitation works will be completed by the end of the year, Bekir Karacabey said, "The methods to rehabilitate these lands were determined under the guidance of technical teams."

The European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) recommends that Bulgaria reimburse more than 30 million euros under European programs in its annual report.

More than 23 million euros of the amount are for the construction of 377 guest houses, which instead of being rented out to tourists, are used for personal needs, BNT reported.

Paris is aiming to redevelop the area around the Eiffel Tower in time for the 2024 Olympic Games, but the city's residents are beginning to rebel over a plan that would see 22 trees ripped up.

The Paris mayor's office wants to build tourist facilities and offices at the foot of the world-famous landmark.