The forest fires in Greece and those in Indonesia in 1997 and 1998 are "only a foretaste of a global disaster waiting to happen", two conservationist groups say.

They believe the next El Nino weather disturbance in the Pacific, due within two years, will trigger more and worse fires.

El Nino is caused by temperature rises in the Pacific, but its effects are felt over a far wider area. It recurs every few years.

The groups, WWF, the global environmental campaign, and IUCN, the World Conservation Union, say political action is urgent.

And they say there are examples of ways to prevent the disastrous fires of recent years in Greece and elsewhere.

Problem neglected

In a report, The Global Review of Forest Fires, the two groups argue that since the devastation in east Asia and elsewhere several years ago, forest fires have slipped off the political and media agendas.

"At an international level, little has been done to address the underlying causes of forest fires, and although some nations are attempting to face the problem, many such responses are too slow and often misdirected," the groups say.

They believe the Greek fires are a microcosm of what is happening on a global scale. "WWF Greece has repeatedly warned the government over the past two years that there was a catastrophe in the making.

"Yet the official response continues to be characterised by political expediency, short-termism and policy failure."

The report says the fires ravaged two important wildlife areas: the Pindos mountains, home to brown bears, wild cats and wolves, and the island of Samos. It says almost all the forests around Athens have now gone.

WWF says the Greek Government should fund its national forestry service adequately, and introduce integrated forest management plans which fully involve local communities.

Time to act

Together with IUCN, it says the European Union should do more to address the underlying causes of Mediterranean forest fires, applying the innovative approaches it has adopted to fire management in some tropical areas.

The report says climate change will result in more frequent and stronger El Nino episodes, predisposing more forests to burn. But it says there is still time for governments to make real policy changes, if they act immediately.

It advocates community-based solutions as "often the best and more cost-effective way forward for planning for and preventing damaging forest fires.

"Early warning systems need to be built up; agricultural practices need to be altered; effective enforcement and implementation of national and international law need to be galvanised."

Wholesale arson

Dr Steve Howard of WWF told BBC News Online: "Greece sends out a very bad signal to countries like Indonesia which are struggling with many other problems.

"We can ill afford an EU country without the political will to prevent fires like this when the G8 group of developed countries say they want to tackle illegal logging.

"The fires in Indonesia were and are arson on a grand scale by landowners wanting to clear forests for plantations for export crops. Our recommendations go some way to tackle that.

"The silver lining in the smoke cloud is that the fires are on our own doorstep. Perhaps that will bring it home to the EU that it must act here, and also put pressure on countries like Indonesia."