OPINION

Flooding on Crete underscores need for a new paradigm

Flooding on Crete underscores need for a new paradigm

What happened earlier this month on Crete was something that happens perhaps once every 500 years: In a period of just 10 minutes, there was more rainfall than in the past three or four years combined. Not a common occurrence, but not something completely unexpected either.

Coastal flooding in Europe is becoming more common and the damage such storms wreak will be 30 times more destructive over the next 30 years, something of which Greece already has significant (and bitter) experience. Especially in those areas with small drainage basins, like Agia Pelagia; four deaths were recorded in Ialysos on Rhodes in 2013, 25 deaths in Mandra, West Attica in 2017, another eight in the Politika and Vasilika on Evia in 2020.

The causes? Certainly the shortsighted changes in the use of land and the construction within torrent beds, the careless weatherproofing of the terrain’s surface, the construction of road networks across streambeds, the arbitrariness during the construction of flood prevention projects – some of which can hardly be described as such but were merely carried out in order for the authorities to say that they have supposedly taken precautions. All of this takes on a new dimension with climate change conditions, which are causing frequent rainstorms that are of tremendous intensity despite their short duration. The issue would not be so important if it were not here to stay. But it is.

Climate change will continue even if we stopped all carbon emissions tomorrow, because the particles already released into the atmosphere will stay there for many decades as it takes time for them to break down. The problem is here, and it is also ahead of us. We will bequeath it to the next generations.

A prerequisite for (re)building the infrastructure to withstand the frequent extreme weather is a radical reshaping of the distribution of available funds

What are we to do? Common sense sets out two goals. First, a radical reduction in emissions of greenhouse gases. Unfortunately, the war in Ukraine has set back these efforts as, globally, the conversation has shifted from discussing how quickly we can phase out natural gas and other fossil fuels to worrying about how much of these energy sources we will have available – this has been humanity’s most significant defeat following Vladimir Putin’s invasion. The second goal is to reinforce the resilience of all critical infrastructure and make it capable of withstanding extreme climate change phenomena. This is a historic challenge for the whole world and the European Union. This is a huge project for all of humanity, and it is huge in Greece as well.

What do we understand and what do we do as citizens and as a country? The conclusions of the recent extreme weather on Crete are not very promising. Most of the citizens who were struck by the weather find it sufficient to wait for the state (that is other taxpayers) to hand out compensation for the destruction, as their homes and businesses are not insured for fire or flood damage – even though the cost is low and if insurance became mandatory it would be even less.

If this is what the social reaction is limited to, the government and the political system in general have proven that they do not understand the problem, its magnitude and the many changes required to deal with it – after all, it was disheartening that at the recent 86th Thessaloniki International Fair none of the political leaders said anything about climate change during their many speeches.

A prerequisite for (re)building the infrastructure to withstand the frequent extreme weather is a radical reshaping of the distribution of available funds, the level of available funds, and, finally, the priorities of public finance. If, for example, high expenses are required to reinforce public infrastructure, how logical would it be to maintain reducing taxes as a key priority (revenue of which is low as a percentage of GDP), with tax evasion and tax avoidance enjoying an unofficial yet efficient protection beyond reproach?

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