Fire Ecology, Not Fire Economy

In the fires in the Mediterranean, not only the bees, but also the fruit flies, which would provide pollination, were burned. To restore local biodiversity, we must listen to local voices, not the central one.

The successive fires in August devastated the people of the region. Let’s take a look at what lessons we should draw from all this for the sake of nature and living things in order to prepare for the coming years.

In 2019, I was there during the fires that could not be extinguished and affected the entire Australian continent. Some days, almost the whole island was on fire, there were days when I was afraid if I could convey my last wishes to my relatives. The fires we experienced in Turkey this summer were not comparable. But every fire is terrible in itself. On the Marmaris side, I felt a similar fear and desperation in the fires close to where I live. It was the worst to smell the flesh of burning creatures, especially at night.

Let’s consider this year’s fires not only in Turkey, but in Greece, Spain, North America, and even in Siberia, which is claimed to have affected an area larger than all of them. Our world is getting drier every year than the previous one. Temperatures are above expectations. Even ‘developed’ countries that seem sensitive to the issue are neutralizing their carbon emissions and are considering pushing their 2030 targets to 2050. However, as the warming continues, life on earth will be greatly affected. The situation depends on urgent measures! As citizens, we all have a job.  

Can You Give Disaster Out by Contract?

I hope that the measures against fire have embarrassed those who act with the logic of how they can profit from this business. Isn’t it embarrassing to even hear that? However, for the steps to be taken considering the future of the ecosystem, investments should have been made today. Our shared future depends on it. It is such a shame that due to the privatization of everything in our country, the existing resources have become idle, and the fires have been awarded to aircraft and helicopters to be leased from abroad.

Can you give disaster out by contract? We knew that capitalism would not keep even the tree whose shade it could not sell. So, in this case, while the habitat of all living things is destroyed, those who focus on making money from this work are not from us. This situation created a different culture. Just as there are people enjoying themselves in restaurants and entertainment venues against the view of the fire. Another picture frame from the past years, a group that continues to practice yoga there while the refugees come ashore, half-dead, half-alive, with their inflatable boats exploded… How do such ruthless people increase in number? Rachel Cory, an American peace activist lying in front of Israeli tanks in Palestine, said, ‘If oppression is something of ours, I am not one of them.’

Everything depends on the solidarity citizen consciousness that protects ethical values ​​and can be a subject about their own life.

According to the 2021 report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPCC) of the United Nations, our time is the era of the fire. We will not be able to avoid fires. So, let’s learn the ways to deal with it under the name of fire ecology.

How Did We Get to This Situation?

In the last 40-50 years in Turkey, mining, housing (especially TOKİ), roads, dams, war, tourism, and their sectoral connections are many times greater than the effects of slaughter, agriculture, and animal husbandry in forested areas. Since only 60-70% of the Muğla region is subject to mining licenses, the situation may be even worse in the coming years. It is also stated that most of the existing thermal power plants (Yatağan, Yeniköy and Kemer) have completed their life. It is infuriating to hear that renovation investments are being made to extend their lifespan instead of removing them. Is it possible to understand such a logic when coal power plants are being shut down rapidly due to carbon emissions in the world?

A handful of mature red pine forests in the Akbelen forest in the İkizköy region of Milas are also being sacrificed for such a project. 

I joined the vigil several times in Akbelen to protect the 740-decare forest from cutting. If you can listen to the sound of those centuries-old trees throughout the night and early in the morning, you’ll want to turn around and go there. My heart remained there. Some days we went to the surrounding villages and talked to the villagers. There were those who could say it outright, and those who hesitated to say it… However, it is a fact that they all agreed on the statement that they could not get any yield from the olive trees on the side of the thermal power plants and the vegetables and fruits they tried to grow in their fields.

Although the Milas region seems to be well-watered, the underground waters of the villages have been withdrawn due to the cooling need of the thermal power plants. Some villages face drought. A man working in the mine from the surrounding villages sold his fields with his own hands. Then his village was left without water. Now, in order not to be like him, the people of İkizköy have stood up under the leadership of their women.

Especially when we saw the 15-kilometer-long, inanimate, lunar-like area that Kemerköy had destroyed for coal for years, we realized that the end of the thermal power plants had to come, and we all had a duty to protect the Akbelen forest.

Trying to cut down the trees in the Akbelen forest in August using fires as an excuse is another source of shame. Greetings to the friends who are on watch day and night there!

Things We Need to Do Urgently

Every drop of rainwater falling on the ground should be protected and injected underground. Because we have seen in Australian fires that wildfires are formed as a result of drying of the earth, as well as acting as a lens (bright surfaces, water left in a plastic bottle, etc.). In an article I wrote on this subject, the abandonment of the techniques of controlling and extinguishing the fire by the local people and locals also played a role. Measures were taken to return to these techniques in Australia, and job sites were recreated.

In short, it is necessary to develop local fire strategies as well as regional strategies. It is necessary to work with the local people about the precautions to be taken in an area such as Anatolian geography with mountainous, hilly, and plain divisions and different microclimate pockets. Because they know the history of the place from past to present. They recognize trees, climate, prevailing wind.

Rainwater

Every drop of water falling on the ground during the rainy season should be protected. In built environments such as cities, concrete should be removed, and permeable surfaces should be created. Methods of absorbing water by increasing the amount of organic matter should be applied in rural areas. It was almost 20 years ago when the concrete in public places such as schools, hospitals etc. to be dismantled and the permeable surfaces started to be made in the US. 

We know that underground aquifer water in Anatolia decreases by tens of meters every year. This level has exceeded the depth of 300 meters in some places. The withdrawal of the ready aquifer water must be stopped. Rainwater harvesting methods should be implemented quickly. Each region has its own method of harvesting water and collecting water in different places. For example, the method in the Mediterranean region, without evaporation, is underground cisterns. Just as they existed in old İstanbul, underground cisterns, including public buildings, must be mandatory today.

Of course, thanks to the developing technology, it may be possible to use the sea water whose level has risen due to global warming. However, it is stated that this is still an expensive method. Moreover, we know how costly it is to transport water through pipes over long distances. All kinds of measures to be taken locally will extinguish the local fire better.

Emergency disaster units, including fire, should be established in every neighborhood immediately. Thus, the so-called city councils that already exist in municipalities can be activated. Due to the recent fires, we started such a citizens’ initiative in Datça. I hope it sets an example by preserving its vitality in every season, thus helping other problems of the region. Because in this process, only solidarity keeps us alive. 

Fire Resistant Vegetation

In order to extinguish the fire in the forest without splashing, buffer zones are created and at the same time, it has a certain damping effect depending on the vegetation that has fire breaking properties. Depending on the direction of the prevailing wind, fire barriers can be created from fire resistant trees and bushes in the vicinity. In fact, it should be rapidly encouraged to create fire-resistant zones around our homes, structures such as schools and hospitals. If we look carefully at the ancient knowledge and the local climate, we can see a lot. For example, we see that plants that do not want water such as bougainvillea and oleander grow better in the Mediterranean and Aegean regions. Let’s also remind that these are fire resistant.

As groundcovers, succulent cactus sedum plants can prevent horizontal spread of fire. Olive is a very useful industrial plant. But making olive trees everywhere creates monoculture. Let’s not forget that olives can burn easily due to their oily nature. Our natural farmer Greek friend Panos Manikis reminded us years ago that olive groves should be transformed into polyculture.

Red pine must be protected as a tree native to the Mediterranean. I hugged red pines at least 150 years old in Akbelen. Their energies are different… I learned while living abroad that pine honey made by bees feeding on red pine is precious. Our country is indeed one of the few places in the world in this regard, and even takes the lead.

Restoration of red pine vegetation should be done quickly. Red pine can also be prevented from becoming a monoculture. My engineer-based friend, who has been living in the Taurus Mountains for years, is also a good wildlife watcher. In an article he published during the fires, he lists the possibility of being a sister plant to the red pine on his Yazıyaban blog as follows: ‘sumac, phyllyrea, oak species, sandalwood, hawthorn, nakedweed, turpentine, laurel, bushy juniper, Greek juniper, albeit scarce but redbud,  calycotome, blackthorn, myrtle, greenweed, cistus incanus, wild jasmine, popper bush, wig tree, scorpion senna’ are some of the trees/shrubs growing together with the red pine in this region. In short, we must observe nature well and keep records so that we can bring back what is lost, based on the examples we have taken.

In the fires in the Mediterranean, not only the bees, but also the fruit flies, which would provide pollination, were burned. To restore local biodiversity, we must listen to local voices, not the central one. For example, to the voices of beekeepers… In restoration, the voice and needs of the local must be carefully listened to and recorded. Of course, we must also be vigilant so that central and local governments do not open the burned areas to tourism. Their duties must be persistently reminded! 

In short, we should care about creating citizens’ initiatives on a neighborhood basis for possible future disasters. Solidarity keeps the earth alive!