LECCE – The WWF, the environmental protection organization that also manages the Le Cesine oasis, has announced that it will be a civil party in the eventual trial, if the material authors of the fire that since yesterday has put the flora and fauna of the characteristic reserve that develops in the Vernole countryside, along the Adriatic coast, are identified. There is very little doubt that the fire was started intentionally and the forestry police, delegated to conduct the investigation, are working tirelessly on this front.
The flames, which affected in particular a cane field south of the state nature reserve, were “fueled by extreme heat waves, weather conditions and drought that dried out the vegetation”, the WWF recalls. That is to say that the climate crisis does nothing but facilitate the work of criminals.
The WWF emphasizes that the timely interventions by land and by air, via Canadair, should have been able to contain the damage. Therefore, the hope is that the reserve’s forest has not been significantly affected. The flames, in fact, would have only reached the area south of the reed bed. In these hours the firefighters, supported by the WWF personnel themselves, by the civil protection and by Arif, are proceeding to contain the outbreaks in some marsh areas and to reclaim other areas.
“We sincerely thank the firefighters, Arif, the forestry carabinieri and our colleagues on site who promptly took action to put out the fire, working all night, as well as the citizens who promptly reported the first outbreak, avoiding even worse damage to the unique heritage represented by the reserve”, says Marco Galaverni, director of the WWF Italy Oasis. The scare, however, was truly great. There is no summer that goes by without Le Cesine becoming among the “prey” of the flames and yesterday, as a precaution, two accommodation facilities in the area were also evacuated, such was the fear that the fire would spread.
Climate: an invitation to responsibility
The WWF reminds that just a few days ago a study was published in Nature Ecology & Evolution by an international group of researchers led by the University of Tasmania, which shows how in the last twenty years the frequency and size of extreme fires have doubled, while since 2017 we have been experiencing the six most extreme years for these events. In the Mediterranean territories, in the last ten years alone, the number of extreme fires has increased more than tenfold.
Meanwhile, just a few days ago, the alleged perpetrators of the fire that broke out on August 1st of last year, near the WWF Crater of the Astroni Oasis in Naples, were sent to trial, destroying over 40 hectares inside and outside the protected area. The cause of the fire was the explosion of some fireworks that occurred in an area not far from the border of the Oasis. Precisely for these reasons, the WSF continues to operate with increasing commitment to spread the culture of responsibility and respect for the environment.
In the province of Bergamo, WWF Italy coordinates the Off (Out Forest Fires) project, which aims to involve and empower the communities that live in the area by encouraging good practices to be used as an alternative to the use of fire in agro-forestry and the reuse of waste plant material so as to reduce the accidental triggering of fires. Furthermore, in some Oases, WWF has installed thermal imaging cameras that allow monitoring the area in real time and therefore rapidly detecting the triggering of a forest fire, promptly alerting the directors of the Oases.
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