Tormented habitat
Pine trees – the very lungs of Greek nature – are under threat. Anyone traveling around the country will have noticed that the problem of dying pine forests is spreading. A corrosive, fluff-like scourge is covering more and more trees in Greece. Unfortunately, the culprit is an insect which is supposed to boost honey production. Farmers intentionally introduced this insect, which enfeebles the pines and provokes widespread destruction during droughts, to pine forests. The case of the pines shows how farmers’ attempts to boost production can also threaten the countryside’s environmental health. Nothing is done to prevent the damage. Studying possible side effects is sidelined. Those who worry that such experimentation can fool with delicate ecological balances are dismissed and their concerns called excessive. This is an international phenomenon. Giving cows feed with engine lubricants and cultivating genetically modified crops will also have untold global effects. Unfortunately, Greece has systematically failed to collect the necessary information on the negative aspects of these experiments and to react to the concerns expressed by those with experience in dealing with them. It is a telling indication that Italy, as early as 1996, had highlighted the destructive side-effects of this beekeepers’ insect and had subsequently adopted legislation to combat its activity. Despite this, Greece continued to encourage its use up until 2001. Thus, the withering of its pine forests is becoming yet another poignant confirmation of Greece’s shortfalls in protecting its environment. Whether one refers to polluted landfills or to Lake Koroneia – whose fish population was wiped out in 1995 and where thousands of birds perished in 2004 – the common denominator is a lack of organized environmental protection. Along with this comes an obvious lack of sensitivity, which probably explains why our country has never had a serious ecological political party, even though uncontrolled development has brought the issue of environmental protection to the fore. The image of our country’s threatened pines is a stark reminder of the necessity of political initiatives to protect the environment. But what is needed is concrete action, not just the drafting of laws and studies to satisfy the European Union or the Council of State.
