Greece is becoming a desert

When we think about advancing deserts, we don't normally think about Greece, but a conference in Thessalonika revealed that 84 percent of Greece's land is at risk of desertification and another 8 percent is already arid but is still being cultivated by farmers reluctant to lose their subsidies.

The hardest hit areas are believ4ed to cover a large section of mainland Greece, most of the Peloponese, mountainous parts of the Ionian islands, eastern and central Crete as well as parts of Thessaly, Macedonia and Thrace.

Areas in greatest danger are hilly land where soil erosion drasticly reduces depth, fertility and productivity of the earth. Agricultural machines are also a major culprit; they are believed to have caused a loss of about 40 centimeters of earth in the hilly sections of the Thessaly plain.

Desertification is another factor in the equation that pits growing population and economies against increasingly stressed resources. We must find ways out of this equation and find them soon.