Local farmers are planting approximately 135,000 olive trees in Ancient Olympia, on the western edge of the Peloponnese peninsula.
Officials celebrated the success of the initiative to restore the iconic olive tree forests devastated by wildfires in August 2021.
A few hundred olive producers, in the gray landscape of the fire, are smiling again.
Last summer’s wildfires resulted in the destruction of more than 400,000 olive trees, which has significantly impacted the local economy.
The latest effort to plant Koroneiki saplings added to the several hundred thousand trees planted since the start of the Replanting Ancient Olympia campaign, which has received funding from the American-Hellenic Chamber of Commerce and the Arete Fund, a California-based non-profit.
See Also:2022 Wildfire Season Expected to Be Europe’s Worst“Our crews looked to find the right nurseries in the whole country, then bought the saplings and transported them to the area, where they were distributed to the affected growers,” said Giannos Grammatidis, the director of a non-profit and former president of the American-Hellenic Chamber of Commerce.
“We know very well that we did not cover all of the damage, but a significant part of it,” he added. “I wish we had the means to do more.”
Among the attendees of the ceremony was Adonis Georgiadis, the Greek Minister of Development and Investments, who called the restoration effort his “legacy for this holy place.”
Georgiadis warned that wildfires would likely become more commonplace as a result of climate change and farmers would need to prepare accordingly.
“I want to praise this private initiative, which was once again directly involved in the restoration of a huge natural disaster,” he added.
At the town hall, a local elementary school choir opened the ceremony. Afterwards, a stone memorial was unveiled amidst the burned groves to celebrate the success of the campaign.
The stone bears the image of an olive tree and a few verses of Elytis, the Nobel laureate Greek poet who passed away in 1996.
In front of the town hall, a 250-year-old olive tree was also planted during the celebrations.
“A few hundred olive producers, in the gray landscape of the fire, are smiling again,” said George Georgiopolous, the mayor of Ancient Olympia. “Maybe their new olive trees will bring income again in five to six years, but they now know that in this great test they were not left alone.”
“There must be the same response from the government to our basic request for the restoration and reconstruction of the fire-damaged area and at the level of infrastructure so that this great place can be regenerated and developed,” he concluded.
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