Greece: Forest fire destroys jobs of pine resin collectors

AGDINES, Greece (AP) — For generations, residents in the north of the Greek island of Evia have made their living from the dense pine forests surrounding their villages. Tapping the ubiquitous Aleppo pines for their resin, the viscous, sticky substance the trees use to protect themselves from insects and disease, provided a key source of income for hundreds of families.

But now, hardly any forest is left. A devastating wildfire, one of Greece’s most destructive single blazes in decades, rampaged across northern Evia for days earlier this month, swallowing woodland, homes and businesses and sending thousands fleeing.

The damage won’t just affect this year’s crop, resin collectors and beekeepers say, but for generations to come.

“It’s all over. Everything has turned to ash,” said Christos Livas, a 48-year-old resin collector and father of four.

Resin has been used by humans since antiquity and is found today in a dizzyingly broad array of products, from paint and solvents to pharmaceuticals, plastics and cosmetics. The north of Evia, Greece's second-largest island, accounted for around 80% of the pine resin produced in Greece, and about 70% of the pine honey, locals say.

Satellite imagery shows the wildfire destroyed most of the island's north. The devastation is breathtaking. Tens of thousands of hectares of forests and farmland were reduced to a dystopian landscape of skeletal, blackened trees silhouetted against a smoke-filled sky.

For trees to grow back to the point where resin can be extracted will take more than two decades, and probably twice as long for the production of pine honey.

“In 10 years, the forest will become green again,” Livas said. “But for tapping, it will take 20, 25 years. For me, it’s all over. Even for a 30-year-old - what’s he going to do,...