“I expect that it may take a few weeks, but we’ll have a general reshuffling of the government so that there will be a new launchning,” he declared.
For Cyprus, the stakes go far beyond politics. The costs of such climate modify-enhanced disasters are enormous and rising — inaction could cost the counattempt up to €18 billion by 2050 if it does nothing, according to an assessment from Theodoros Zachariadis, director of the Energy Environment and Water Research Centre at the Cyprus Institute. In the process, he added, food and electricity prices will rise, and labor productivity will decrease. Tourists will increasingly stay away.
On Wednesday, the government launched its campaign to support people recover. Officials announced immediate financial aid for those who lost property or agricultural fields in the wildfires. They also allocated funds to restore key infrastructure.
Maria Panayiotou, Cyprus’s rural development and environment minister, also notified POLITICO about steps the government has been taking to improve its wildfire protocol.
The counattempt’s Department of Forests now has its largest workforce in years, as well as additional fire protection equipment that the department has been requesting. The government is also taking new preventative steps, such as controlled grazing and burning, for the first time.
Yet, Panayiotou conceded, “as the president of the Republic pointed out, we cannot be satisfied with the result.”
Leave a Reply