Following the devastating fires on Chios in August 2012, the conservation organisation CHIOS NATURE calls upon the Greek Government:

• To ensure that immediate measures are taken to prevent soil erosion in the burned areas.
• Immediately to ban all hunting in the burned areas for at least 2 years.
• To provide a study and a plan for the replanting of the burned areas with native and endemic species, and to make funds available for the implementation of these.
• To place a moratorium of at least 5 years on any large scale development that might have a negative impact on the island's ecosystems.
• To ensure that there is no change in the designation of land (e.g. from forest to agricultural etc) and that no illegal building or grazing takes place.
• To protect key areas from grazing in order to allow recovery of plant species.
• To support the replanting of masticha (Pistachia lentiscus) bushes where these have been lost to the fires.
• To commission studies of both the flora and fauna of Chios 2 years after the fire and consider reintroductions of species that have become locally extinct.
• To ensure firefighters are properly equipped and resourced so that future wildfires can be fought effectively.
  

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