Ambassador Pyatt’s Statement at USAID Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance-U.S. Forest Service Burned Area Emergency Response Expert Briefing to the Greek Ministry of Environment and Energy
Athens, Greece
October 27, 2021
I’m very grateful to Minister Skrekas for creating this opportunity for some of the United States government’s best technical experts on fire recovery to brief on the results of the two weeks they have invested in Evia, here in Athens, and in Ancient Olympia, looking at the aftermath of the fires and sharing experiences in terms of how to manage the process of recovery.
The good news is that our soil scientists believe that the damage to the soils from the fires in August was relatively moderate and that the Greek government is already taking very good steps to begin the process of regeneration, and that nature also is doing its work.
This is a line of effort that we will continue, working both with the Ministry of Environment but also with the Hellenic Fire Service to deal with the consequences of the climate crisis and to reinforce the capacity of the Greek state to manage this challenge effectively and in partnership with its allies in the United States.
