In the mountains of the southern Peloponnese, Greece’s usually resilient fir forests are dying in alarming numbers – even in areas untouched by fire. Researchers say the cause is a dangerous combination of climate-driven stresses rather than wildfires alone.
Dimitrios Avtzis, a senior researcher at Greece’s Forest Research Institute, first noticed something was wrong while surveying a routine spring fire site. Beyond the burned areas, vast swathes of fir trees were already dead or dying. “The scale of the damage was profound,” he said, prompting him to alert the environment ministry.
The culprit is a stacking of pressures intensified by climate breakdown. Prolonged drought and shrinking winter snowpack have weakened trees by reducing soil moisture and groundwater. Between 1991 and 2020, Greece lost an average of 1.5 days of snow cover each year, removing a key source of slow-release water.
Weakened firs have become vulnerable to bark beetles, which burrow under the bark and disrupt the tree’s ability to transport water and nutrients. Once outbreaks begin, they are extremely difficult to control. Similar patterns are now being seen across southern Europe, suggesting a wider ecological shift rather than a local anomaly.
There is some hope. Mediterranean forests can regenerate after fire, but recovery is slow and uneven, often taking several years. Scientists stress that action is urgent. Funding, monitoring and forest management plans exist, Avtzis says, but must now be fully implemented.
“We have the knowledge and the tools,” he warns. “What we’re seeing now will only become more frequent and more intense if we don’t act.”
