Environmental expert, Mihallaq Qirjo raised the alarm that the recent fires smoldering parts of northern and southern Albania, pose the risk for long-term effects. According to him, the observation that was specific to this summer’s wildfires was that apart from those fires “being a direct consequence of human activity in nature”, there’s also been an indisputable amount of wildfires forming as a result of climate change.
“The most major consequences are those like damages to the economy and property, but in terms of the natural habitat, we are also losing entire ecosystems. The scorched forests will need around 50 years to regrow because a burnt environment’s biodiversity is practically extinguished. This is why, many years are needed and efforts, in order to revive them,” said Qirjo, environmental experts.
According to Qirjo, wildfires during the month of August have affected “the heart of our country’s biodiversity”, including several protected sites like Karaburn in Vlora and ‘Guri i Nikes” in Pogradec.
The environmental expert considered the intervention from the air as essential in extinguishing wildfire flames, but unfortunately, our government doesn’t own these types of equipment, rendering our fire-extinguishing capabilities primitive, at best.
Mentioning the fact that “the entire Mediterranean is classified as a high-risk area in terms of the impacts of climate change”, Qirjo added that “Albania is highly exposed to natural catastrophes and that our brittle national economy will have a hard time coping with them”.
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