North Evia: New restoration model but without any sufficient support

Burning out of control for eight days (3-11 August 2021), the fire in North Evia left behind 520,000 acres of land into ashes, including 382.000 acres of forest. The destruction was staggering. A pioneering model was chosen for the restoration of the region: the North Evia Reconstruction Commission – a 'committee of wise men' – was set up to coordinate a series of studies for the regeneration of the affected area. A person with decades of experience in public life, Stavros Benos, widely known for the transformation of Kalamata – during which he was mayor – after the devastating earthquake of 1986 and the “initiator” of the institution of the Citizen Service Centers (KEP), was appointed as the head. This Commission in January 2023 delivered its proposals to Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

The management of the “next day” is currently under crisis. Almost three years after the disaster, parallels with the holocaust in Ilia (August 2007) are persistent. In particular, specialized scientists in the field of forest fires are among those who wonder whether the initiatives, studies and announcements made so far will eventually stagnate like the donations of the “Molyviatis Fund”1. Budgetary pumps are tightening and the state is tending to withdraw from critical – especially in the climate crisis context – environmental sectors. As far as the North Evia forest is concerned, its restoration up until today has been essentially achieved by the regeneration of nature itself alone.

Limited areas and reforestation expenditure

The Benos Commission's master plan for the “New Forest” – as it has been named by Stavros Benos himself – includes 16 actions and projects, six of which concern reforestation. Officially, 383.140 acres of burnt land have been declared to be reforestable (Government Gazette D' 776/5-11.2021). The “Final Reforestation Study” -one of the implementation studies of the projects and actions of the “New Forest”- prepared in February (and delivered in April) 2023 by the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH), proposes the reforestation of only 9.383.8 acres.

The study estimates 339.694 acres of burnt forest areas (almost identical to the size of the digital mapping of the burnt area), dominated by Ηalepian pine (302.600 acres), black pine (13.929 acres) and spruce (9.563 acres). The remaining 13.602 acres either contain predominantly other species or are meadows, scrub or barren land (all of which fall within designated forest land).

Halepian pine has the potential to regenerate on its own, provided it has not been burned in the relatively recent past (15 years). This is because the seeds it produces are not all released every year but they remain enclosed on the tree for over 10 years, creating an above-ground bank of seeds that are responsible for post-fire regeneration. On the contrary, spruce and black pine require (artificial) reforestation. These two species add up to 23.492 acres.

The “double-burnt” areas of Halepian pine are estimated at 129.960 acres, but the acres, which were burnt after 2005 (i.e. in the last 15 years) and lacked regeneration capacity, amount to 10.136 acres. The double-burnt areas of Halepian pine and burnt areas of black pine and spruce add up to 33.632 acres, according to the study.

More than 70% of the forest areas in this particular area are non-public (for example private, co-owned – i.e. owned by the public but managed by private individuals) and the reforestation study focuses “primarily on public forests, since they are the first priority and the state is directly responsible”. At the same time, however, there are hints of a lack of resources: “The project's limited budget of 15 million [euros] cannot fully cover the reforestation of all the burnt areas of Evia”.

Mentions of loss of two planting seasons

Reports of limited resources coincide with general developments in reforestation. In November 2020, the Environment Minister at the time Kostis Hatzidakis had announced a 10-year (2020-2030) “National Reforestation Plan”, with a total “pool” of €700 million (€309 million from the Recovery Fund, €391 million from NSRF, Rural Development Programme, etc.), but then government reports reduced the participation of the Recovery Fund to €200 million. In March 2023, the Deputy Minister of Finance (and current Minister of Environment) Theodoros Skylakakis amended and renamed the project to “National Reforestation Plan - Forest Protection Programme (Antinero II)”.

More emphasis was placed on forest clearing and fuel removal. Initial announcements of reforestation of 500.000 acres ended up being referred to in official documents as 165.000 acres.

The respective tenders, for the sake of speed and transparency, were assigned to the Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund (HRADF), which in October 2023 announced reforestation projects of total budget of €55.7 million (€69 million including VAT) on approximately 57.000 acres in Attica and Thessaloniki, but not in North Evia2. From 2020 to date, the €700 million “pool” has never been discussed again.

For the reforestation of 9.383,8 acres in Evia, 16 million euros have been secured from the Recovery Fund, according to competent officials of the Ministry of Environment, but the respective tender procedures of the HRADF had not started until the time these lines were written (mid-February 2024). The aim was to start “immediately” so that about 180,000 seedlings could be transferred as soon as possible from the public plant nursery in Organi, Rhodope, and transplanted to North Evia.

The Forestry Department of Limni, Evia had requested that the reforestation be done by 20 March at the latest (due to favorable climatic conditions), a date that seems to have been missed. On the contrary, Mr. Benos refutes the delays and states that the planned timetables are being followed. “The starting point for reforestation is autumn 2024”, he countered in our conversation, adding that a first “pilot” reforestation of 20.000-30.000 seedlings will be attempted in April and the remaining seedlings will be transplanted in the autumn months, while another 1,000,000 seedlings of Halepian pine and broadleaf trees, such as walnut and chestnut trees, are being prepared, to be placed around small settlements.

The seedlings in Organi are almost two years old, a suitable age for their transplanting (for spruce the suitable age is 3 years). The result of delays will be reduced survival rates of the seedlings and losses in transplanting.

According to the scholars of ΑUTH, an additionary reforestation study for the non-public areas has been completed and is about to be delivered. On the one hand, officers of the Forestry Department cauterize the delays and the loss of two planting seasons (October 2023 the first, March 2024 the second), on the other hand they point out that “we have requested for a comprehensive study for all forests – including private forests. However, only the public ones were selected”. In the areas where Halepian pine is dominant and there is potential for natural regeneration (i.e. the areas that are not double burnt), new trees have been regenerated in large numbers and have exceeded one to one and a half meters in height. “Nature has done a good job”, people who are knowledgeable of the current landscape point out.

The issue of forests in non-public areas

Since difficulties are being detected in the areas where “the state is directly responsible”, the question is what is to be done about reforestation of non-public areas which constitute the vast majority of the affected forest areas. Polymorphic ownership relationships “create an intricate problem that needs to be solved” and at this stage “neither the forests nor the owners benefit”, the master plan for the “New Forest” notes.

The 16 projects for the “New Forest” include the “Non-Public Forestry Programme”, with a budget of €1,2 million (PEP Sterea Ellada). It is unknown which formula will qualify. The master plan contains a proposal to sign a Cooperation Agreement between owners and the Greek public sector for the management of forests on private land. Α part of the local community (e.g. resin farmers) has counter proposed expropriation which requires, though, high financial cost and time-consuming procedures. “I’ not in favor of these solutions”, Mr Benos states, opting for consensus.

A shift to the “forest economy”

A number of productive activities depended on the forest of North Evia: resin cultivation, beekeeping, logging, charcoal production, etc. The loss of the forest from the 2021 fire had a national impact on honey production (70% of Greek production consists of conifer honey, with a significant percentage coming from the pine forests of North Evia), while the loss of resin is estimated at 3,100 tones, which comprise 55% of annual production. Mr Benos has expressed a strong belief that the solution for North Evia is the “forest economy” focusing on the utilisation of forest residues and biomass.

Two of the 16 projects for the “New Forest” are in the way of this particular sector. Both of them are stuck in a pending issue: a constitutionally compliant legislative regulation is required, that – other than the Forest Cooperatives – will allow the KOINSEP (Social Cooperative Enterprises) to operate in the forest. An equivalent legislative initiative does not exist, while the broader government policy expects private companies to enter into the management of the surplus (as the proper term is) biomass. “Forest cooperatives and KOINSEP are the solution, not private companies and wild exploitation”, Mr Benos stresses, noting that his proposal is a combination of social and circular economy, sectors which “are generously funded by the EU”.

Foresters question the economic results of biomass extraction. “Greek forests are not suitable for such exploitation. They are mainly located at high altitudes and are not easily accessible. In Evia, this can only be done in accessible areas,” says forester Giorgos Karetsos, a retired researcher of ELGO-DIMITRA.

“In order to serve the forest economy, there should have been support for resin cultivation. 85% of the national production comes from North Evia. The economic growth from resin amounted to 3.5-4 million euros per year. The rosin is a big hit in the market. We have an asset that could provide profits for the country. Why not exploit it?”, asks himself Vangelis Georgantzis, President of the Association of Resin Farmers and Forest Workers of Evia.

Tourism can also be part of the “forest economy”. Experts suggest a perspective of forest tourism, on the grounds that it will attract more attention and add more protection to the forest. Dr Gavriel Xanthopoulos, a forester-director of research at the Institute of Mediterranean Forest Ecosystems ELGO-DIMITRA, has put forward proposals according to the example of the US Yellowstone National Park: the park (8.980 square kilometers) burned for months in 1988, resulting in the destruction of one third of its area. Its restoration took the form of a workshop “and the world, after two or three years, went back to see the way the landscape was regenerating. Today it has many more visitors and is a fully regenerated forest.”

The collapse of services and the entry of private companies

According to most of the opinions we gathered, the broader “Benos plan” could be a “pilot” - the prime minister has, after all, favored a repetition of the North Evia model for Evros, where in August 2023 about 1 million acres were burned. But “one Benos does not bring spring”, Karetsos  wryly comments. The best of intentions for the forests come up against a harsh reality: the collapse of forestry staff. The case of the Limni Forestry Department is typical: there are only two permanent staff left (the chief forester is close to retirement) and the contracts of eight seasonal workers expire on 6 May. The Forestry Department's persistent request for staffing with three forestry officers and a forester remains pending. “It is of great importance that the forestry services always remain staffed at a steady rate and that experience is maintained,” Karetsos stresses.