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The long-term consequences of the fires in Pishë Poro provided up to 35 kilograms of biomass per year

2023-10-07 18:58:46Aktualitet SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
The long-term consequences of the fires in Pishë Poro provided up to 35
The long-term consequences of the fires in Pishë Poro

The burning of the protected area of ​​Pishë Poros will bring great long-term consequences, natural science researchers and representatives of environmental organizations estimate.

According to them, the damage to the 70-year-old belt of pines that protected the penetration of the sea will significantly increase marine erosion and flooding and will have long-term consequences for the climate and tourism in this area.

The researchers call for a plan to be built for replanting with pines and not to take steps to reduce the protection status of the area that could then bring construction developments.

The fires that continued for 10 days in the Pishë Poros protected area in Fier, part of the Pishë Poro-Nartë protected landscape, have left behind major consequences.

Drone footage shows that the vast majority of the nearly 70-year-old Mediterranean softwood pine has been engulfed by the fire, which has scorched everything in the understory, vegetation and fauna.

Professor of the Department of Biology at the University of Tirana Lulëzim Shuka says that the protective belt of pines that was created before the nineties had a very big role in protecting the penetration of the sea into the interior of the earth.

This belt of pine trees, artificially created before the nineties, created a protective curtain or barrier to prevent the entry of salty sea waters into the interior of the earth, thus enabling the desalination of the interior, also helped by the increase in the level of Vjosa that flows into the sea during autumn and winter. The width of this forest ranges from a few meters, for example 10,20,30 meters to 2.5 kilometers, creating not only a protective barrier, but also an ecosystem, despite being artificial, very important from the point of view of biomass.

Mr. Shuka further says that the pine forest produced about 30 kilograms of biomass per year, which is much greater than the biomass produced by saline soils, which is almost half a kilogram per year.

Wood forests are the main absorbers of carbon dioxide and at the same time its reservoirs. And from a scientific point of view, this forest provides 30-35 kilograms of biomass per year, a mass many times greater compared to cultivated plants that goes from 1 to 1.5 kilograms, compared to natural plants of saline soils that produce less than half a kilogram of biomass per year.

Mr. Shuka talks about the effects of a burn compared to areas that were affected by fires on a much smaller scale in the nineties.

Drone plans of these areas before they were engulfed by the recent fires show that the vegetation has not yet recovered in those hearths that burned 30 years ago, and during the winter the sea waters penetrate freely, bringing floods.

"Almost every two years I make expeditions and visits to the area to see the structure and population of some specific species of the coastal area. In the southern part of the Vjosa estuary, at that fire that was 30-35 years ago, nature has now begun to eliminate the main part of the consequences of the fires. This means that a fire will take tens of years to repair, if artificially interfered with afforestation.

Usually such burnings are accompanied by a decrease in the protection status of the area", says Zydjon Vorpsi of the Albanian organization for the protection of nature (PPNEA), but according to him, this should not happen with the Pishë Poros forest.

Intervention is needed as soon as possible, reforestation and strict conservation is needed, and because the area is already burned. The thing that usually happens is that when the natural value of the areas falls or there is damage of this magnitude, they are removed from the protected area, but this should not happen with this area, but moreover, the effort should be increased to restore it, even after many years, as it has been.

The damage is colossal and from the tourism point of view, said Mr. Shuka, since the pine landscape cannot be restored for tens of years and the beach line can undergo transformations precisely because the marine erosion is no longer protected by the pine belt. There are areas where the sand dunes are at a level with the sea and do not prevent the penetration of water, said Mr. Shuka.

The burning of Pishë Poros has evoked strong reactions from forest specialists on social networks, also for the inability of the state emergency structures to control the fires.

Despite the dedication of the Agency of Protected Areas in Fier, the prefecture of Fier, fire departments from several municipalities and districts and the armed forces, the Albanian government had no means of intervention from the air to extinguish massive fires.

Two Greek planes flew in the area to extinguish the fires only a few times as part of the assistance of the European civil defense mechanism.

This help was requested after almost a week when the massive fire appeared that had damaged several hundred hectares of pines and vegetation.

According to the evaluations of specialists in the field, there was no impact on limiting the outbreaks that followed even after the very limited intervention from the air./ VOA


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