Last year, Europe, the Middle East and Africa experienced some of the worst wildfires since 2000. According to the 2023 Wildfire Report, released today by the Joint Research Center of the Commission, forest fires have affected more than 500,000 hectares of natural land, approximately half the area of the island of Cyprus.
In recent years, catastrophic wildfires have been frequent in the European Union and neighboring countries and 2023 was no exception. “Megafires” and wildfires have tested traditional means of firefighting, notably near the town of Alexandroupolis in Greece's East Macedonia and Thrace region. This is the largest forest fire recorded in the EU since the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS) began monitoring it in 2000.
The unprecedented wildfires that have swept Europe over the past four years show the undeniable effects of climate change on increasingly frequent and intense wildfires. This was underlined by the first ever European Climate Risk Assessment (EUCRA) and the Communication of the Commission on Climate Risk Management in Europe published this year.
The preliminary assessment of the 2024 EU wildfire season until mid-September shows that the area burned by fires in the EU was lower than the average of the last two decades. This is mainly due to intermittent rainfall which affected much of the EU territory in spring and summer. More information is available in a press release.
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