• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • TikTok
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
CDE Almería – Centro de Documentación Europea – Universidad de Almería

CDE Almería - Centro de Documentación Europea - Universidad de Almería

Centro de Documentación Europea de la Universidad de Almería

  • HOME
  • WHAT´S ON
    • EU BULLETINS
    • EU NEWS
    • Activities
    • EU Calls and Awards
    • Radio Program «Europe with You»
  • DOCUMENTATION
    • Bibliographic Collection
      • Almería EDC Digital Collection
      • UNIVERSITY OF ALMERIA LIBRARY
    • Documentation by topic
    • EU Media Collection
      • Web Space
      • MEDIATHEQUE REPOSITORY
  • Europe on the net
    • Institutions
    • EU Representation in Spain
    • European information network of Andalusia
    • EU official journal
  • ABOUT US
    • Presentation
    • People
    • Contact
  • English
  • Spanish

Commission report on forest fires: climate change is more noticeable every year

Inicio » EU News » Environmental Affairs » Commission report on forest fires: climate change is more noticeable every year

4 de November de 2021

Today, the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the Commission presented the 21st edition of its Annual Report on Forest Fires in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, covering 2020. After the worst year to date in 2019, 2020 was another year in which fires burnt large areas of natural land in Europe. Despite the increased level of preparedness in EU countries, about 340,000 hectares (ha) were burnt in the EU in 2020 – an area 30% larger than Luxembourg.

The 2021 fire season is even worse. By the release of this report, some 0.5 million ha have already gone up in flames, 61% being forests that will take years to recover. About 25% of the zones burnt in Europe were inside the ‘Natura 2000′ sites – the EU reservoirs of biodiversity. The EU has reinforced its capacity this year to assist countries this fire season, and has already been used extensively for the large fires that hit the Mediterranean region this summer.

Climate change is more noticeable every year too. A clearly observable increasing trend shows higher levels of fire danger, longer fire seasons and intense fast-spreading ‘mega fires’, on which traditional firefighting means have little power. This year, about 130,000 ha were already burnt by the end of June, which marks the traditional start of the fire season. Fires no longer affect southern states only, but are a growing threat also for central and northern Europe. More than nine out of 10 fires in the EU are caused by human actions. Therefore, public awareness and educational campaigns about the risk of fires are key to prevent disasters.

Key findings of the report

  • The 2020 report on forest fires shows that Romania was the most affected country, followed by Portugal, Spain and Italy, as per national reporting;
  • Wildfires heavily affected Europe’s Natura 2000 protected areas: counting for 136,331 ha – about 40% of the total burnt area in 2020 – slightly less than in 2019 but above the average of the past 9 years;
  • As in 2019, unfortunately, Romania accounted again for almost half of the burnt area in Natura 2000 sites, mostly in the Delta Danube Nature Reserve;
  • In 2020, fires of over 30 ha affected 20 EU Member States, burning 339,489 ha in total, which is slightly above the amount recorded in 2019;
  • More people have lost their lives in the 2020 fire season than in 2019 also: national reporting from Spain recorded six causalities, among which, four were firefighters;
  • In 2020, the Copernicus Emergency Management Service rapid mapping was activated 17 times for detailed mapping of forest fires, which is less than the activations so far in 2021;
  • The EU Civil Protection Mechanismwas upgraded with a fleet of firefighting aircraft via rescEU in 2019, reinforcing its capacity to assist countries during this fire season.

The forest fire season in 2020 was characterised by a large number of wildfires during the first half of the year. Fires burned in winter over the Danube delta and in the Pyrenees, and in spring mainly in the Balkan region. During summer and autumn, the most affected were the Mediterranean countries, specifically Spain and Portugal, which recorded the largest fire events in the EU for 2020. The largest wildfires of the year occurred outside the EU, in Ukraine near the Chernobyl buried nuclear reactor.

Members of the College said:

Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, responsible for the Joint Research Centre, Mariya Gabriel, said: “Climate change is increasing the risk and the magnitude of wildfires around the world. Since 2016, the unprecedented fires that have happened globally show a behaviour and intensity that was never experienced before. We have seen our forest growing in the EU over the last decades and we need to preserve them more than ever to heal our planet. The JRC and the European Commission are mobilising science, technologies, policies and cooperation to prevent these massive fires, safeguard our forests, preserve biodiversity and, above all, protect lives in the EU and beyond.”

Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarčič, said: “Forest fires pose a significant disaster risk to the whole of Europe as well as to other parts of the world. Over the course of the past ten years, the EU’s Civil Protection Mechanism has responded to more than forty large-scale forest fire emergencies. Climate change is also extending the forest fire season by several months, increasing the likelihood of more wildfire emergencies for European communities going forward. We are determined to step up all efforts to strengthen our EU-wide response to forest fires, to help prevent, prepare and respond.”

Commissioner for the Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, Virginijus Sinkevičius, said: “Changing climate is making an impact on the length and severity of the fire season, endangering more lives and taking the toll on nature. Today’s report shows how devastating the last year has been, and as shown by data from this year. The European Commission has adopted a new EU Forest Strategy to increase the resilience of forests in Europe. Healthy and resilient forests and land that is managed in a way that protects biodiversity and people is crucial to mitigate the impact of wildfires. That’s why we’re working with partners and national authorities to establish land-based wildfire prevention as a norm.”

More information

European Commission – Press release

Publicaciones relacionadas:

Climate change adaptation: key to the future of EU agricultural imports Global emissions cuts in line with Paris Agreement mean near-term benefits for Earth How nature can protect us from climate change? Building urban resilience to climate change European aircraft fleet for the 2021 forest fire season

“This is a space for debate. All comments, for or against publication, that are respectful and do not contain expressions that are discriminatory, defamatory or contrary to current legislation will be published”.

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Publicaciones relacionadas


Climate change adaptation: key to the future of EU agricultural imports


Global emissions cuts in line with Paris Agreement mean near-term benefits for Earth


How nature can protect us from climate change?


Building urban resilience to climate change


European aircraft fleet for the 2021 forest fire season

Footer

Logotipo en negativo del Centro de Documentación Europea de Almería
  • CDE Almería
  • Edificio Parque Científico-Tecnológico (Pita)
  • Planta: 1ª, Despacho: 2904120.
  • Ctra. Sacramento s/n. Almería (Spain)
  • Teléfono: (+34) 950 015266

HOME
NEWS
DOCUMENTATION
EUROPE ON THE NET
ABOUT US

  • LEGAL NOTICE
  • PRIVACY POLICY
  • COOKIE POLICY
  • ACCESSIBILITY
  • SITEMAP

Copyright © 2023 CDE Almería · Creative Commons LicenseThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

<p>El Centro de Documentación Europea de la Universidad de Almería utiliza cookies propias y de terceros para facilitar al usuario la navegación en su página Web y el acceso a los distintos contenidos alojados en la misma. Asimismo, se utilizan cookies analíticas de terceros para medir la interacción de los usuarios con el sitio Web. Pinche el siguiente enlace si desea información sobre el uso de cookies y como deshabilitarlas. ajustes</p>

Politica de privacidad

El Centro de Documentación Europea de la Universidad de Almería utiliza cookies propias y de terceros para facilitar al usuario la navegación en su página Web y el acceso a los distintos contenidos alojados en la misma. Asimismo, se utilizan cookies analíticas de terceros para medir la interacción de los usuarios con el sitio Web. Pinche el siguiente enlace si desea información sobre el uso de cookies y como deshabilitarlas. <a href="/politica-de-cookies" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Más información</a>

Cookies estrictamente necesarias

Las cookies estrictamente necesarias tiene que activarse siempre para que podamos guardar tus preferencias de ajustes de cookies.

Básicamente la web no funcionara bien si no las activas.

Estas cookies son:

  • Comprobación de inicio de sesión.
  • Cookies de seguridad.
  • Aceptación/rechazo previo de cookies.

Si desactivas esta cookie no podremos guardar tus preferencias. Esto significa que cada vez que visites esta web tendrás que activar o desactivar las cookies de nuevo.

Cookies de terceros

Esta web utiliza Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager y Yandex Metrika para recopilar información anónima tal como el número de visitantes del sitio, o las páginas más populares.

Dejar estas cookies activas nos permite mejorar nuestra web.

¡Por favor, activa primero las cookies estrictamente necesarias para que podamos guardar tus preferencias!

Política de cookies

Pinche el siguiente enlace si desea información sobre el uso de cookies y como deshabilitarlas. Más información