Greece is investing €2.1 billion ($2.27 billion) to strengthen its capability to defend the country against natural disasters induced by climate change as wildfires break out ahead of the fire season.
Largest Procurement
The Aegis initiative is the first of its kind in Greece.
According to Panagiotis Stampoulidis, executive director of the Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund, which will handle procurement, it will be Greece's largest procurement initiative to date.
The project will supply the Ministry of Civil Protection with new and modernized equipment such as amphibious firefighting planes, aerial surveillance drones, fire detection and extinguishing systems, fire control centers, and over 1,000 firefighting vehicles.
HRADF's Project Preparation Facility, or PPF, will manage key procurement initiatives. It has a €592 million budget and has issued 16 tenders so far. HRADF manages a portfolio of projects for Aegis totaling around €970 million.
In recent years, Greece has faced significant challenges due to climate change-related fires.
In 2023, wildfires consumed over 675 square miles of woodland, accounting for 1.3% of the country's entire land area. This is an increase from an average of little under 168 square miles per year between 2006 and 2022, according to the European Union's European Forest Fire Information System.
Around 19,000 people, including hundreds of tourists, were evacuated from areas of the island of Rhodes a month ago after wildfires broke out during a hot wave that broke temperature records across southern Europe.
After Greece experienced the biggest fire-related destruction in 16 years, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis promised to strengthen the country's technological toolset for averting wildfires last August.
Protect Life, Property And The Country
Climate Change and Civil Protection Minister Vasilis Kikilias stated that Aegis' mission is to protect human life, property, forests, and the country's natural beauty and environment in the face of growing climatic dangers.
The program is funded by the European Union's Recovery and Resilience Facility, the National Strategic Reference Framework, and the European Investment Bank, he added.
This year, HRADF has a budget of €198 million for the Anti-Nero III program, which supports wildfire control initiatives like forest cleaning, improving and maintaining forest access routes, and establishing and maintaining firebreaks.
Anti-Nero III, which is already underway for 2024, includes the cleansing of over 14,300 acres of forest as well as the establishment and management of almost 20,000 acres of fire prevention zones.
Meanwhile, the prediction for this year's wildfire season is bleak. According to the European Union's Copernicus service, Greece, like its southern European neighbors, is experiencing prolonged dry conditions, which frequently result in more fires.
Following over 70 forest fires reported around the country on Saturday, Greece upped the wildfire alert level for numerous districts to "high risk"-the second-highest-on Sunday.
The raised alert comes as strong gusts of up to 60 kph (37 mph) are forecast in parts of Greece until Tuesday, "making the situation extremely dangerous for the outbreak of fires," the ministry warned.
The areas affected are the Athens region, the center, the Cyclades islands, and Crete.
Greece has gone five weeks with little or no rain, and the Athens Observatory warns of a dangerous level of drought.
The Mediterranean country had a record average temperature of 11.8 °C (53.2 °F) over the winter, and temperatures have been unusually high since April began.
Last summer, like many other sections of the Mediterranean, it experienced a severe heat wave that killed 20 people and scorched about 175,000 hectares (430,000 acres).
According to experts, Greece's wildfire season, which used to begin in May, is expected to start sooner as a result of human-caused climate change.
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