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Fires have devastated large parts of the world over the past decade. Last year, Europe, the Middle East and Africa suffered some of the worst forest fires since 2000, according to the Forest Fires 2023 report, published by the Commission's Joint Research Centre, a press release from the EU Executive informs. According to the report, forest fires affected more than 500,000 hectares of natural land, about half the size of the island of Cyprus.
In recent years, catastrophic forest fires have been common in the European Union and neighbouring countries, and 2023 was no exception. "Megafires" and wildfires have challenged traditional firefighting methods, including a blaze near the town of Alexandroupolis in the Greek region of East Macedonia and Thrace. This was the largest forest fire recorded in the EU since the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS) began tracking them in 2000. The unprecedented forest fires that have swept across Europe over the past four years show that the undeniable effects of climate change on forest fires are becoming more frequent and intense. This was highlighted by the first European Climate Risk Assessment (EUCRA) and the Commission Communication on Climate Risk Management in Europe published this year. "The 2023 forest fires have shown once again that we are not prepared to deal with these risks. We need to invest more to better prepare and prevent these forest fires. Based on the findings of the recent European Climate Risk Assessment, we are currently developing a new, ambitious and robust European Climate Change Adaptation Plan. We will also assess the need for future legislation on climate resilience and preparedness and present options," said Commissioner for Climate Action, Wopke Hoekstra. The preliminary assessment of the 2024 EU forest fire season up to mid-September shows that the area burned by fires in the EU was below the average of the last two decades. This is mainly due to the intermittent rainfall that affected a large part of the EU territory during the spring and summer. In September, several wildfires broke out simultaneously in Portugal. This brought the damage caused by forest fires in 2024 above the EU average of recent decades. However, overall, 2024 can be considered a less severe forest fire season, as it marks a decrease in damage after three consecutive years of devastating fires. To combat forest fires in Europe and globally, it is necessary to minimise the number of forest fires and to manage the landscape in vulnerable regions, preventing the accumulation of high-risk fuel types and their spatial continuity. Nature-based preventive measures, such as promoting a less fire-prone tree species composition, allowing grazing by herbivores or prescribed burning, are effective in reducing the risk of forest fires, together with integrated landscape planning approaches.
According to the report, around 96% of forest fires in the EU are caused by human actions, meaning that education and awareness-raising campaigns are an essential part of the solution, the source comments. As the climate crisis worsens, it is essential that Europe's population prepares for more frequent and intense forest fires, the EC warns. In these circumstances, prevention measures must involve all categories of the population, including rural communities in direct contact with natural areas, as well as the particularly vulnerable population living at the "interface between wildland and urban areas". The European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS) is a network of 43 countries that exchange harmonised information on forest fires and assess their effects in Europe, and is also a platform for the exchange of good practices on fire prevention, fire fighting, restoration and other fire management activities.
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