Europe: This year’s fires have already destroyed more land than all of 2021

The forest fires that have hit Europe in recent weeks, mainly in its western part hit by strong heat waves, have already destroyed more land than the areas affected in all of 2021, according to the European Information System for Forest Fires (EFFIS).

In the 27 countries of the European Union, fires have destroyed a total of 5,178,810 hectares since the beginning of the year (data as of July 16), i.e. more than 5,000 square kilometers.

In all of 2021, which was marked by many fires in Italy and Greece, 4,703,590 hectares (4,700 square kilometers) burned in the countries of the European Union, according to EFFIS data.

If the current trend continues, 2022 could match or surpass 2017, the most destructive year in the Union since the creation of EFFIS in 2000, when 9,880,870 hectares, almost 10,000 square kilometers, an area equivalent to the surface of Lebanon, turned to ash. .

“The situation is even worse than we predicted, even if we expected temperature anomalies thanks to long-term meteorological forecasts”, explains Jesus San Miguel, coordinator of EFFIS, stressing that “the heat wave is decisive in shaping the situation and clearly linked to climate change”.

About 400,000 hectares have burned since the beginning of the year in France, against 300,000 in all of 2021, more than 1,900,000 hectares in Spain, against 8,500,000 in all of 2021, and more than 460,000 hectares in Portugal, against 250,000 in all in 2021.

Even in a country where wildfires are rare such as Britain, where temperatures topped 40C for the first time this week, the burnt area reached 200,000 hectares this year, compared to 60,000 hectares in 2021 overall, according to EFFIS .

“We knew it was going to be a tough summer and we expect it to continue, we’re only in the middle of fire season,” says Jesus San Miguel. “Whereas this season used to be concentrated from July to September, now we have longer seasons and more severe fires.”