Portugal is the “European champion” of wildfires, with more than 3% of forest burning every year—a situation caused by rural depopulation, the cessation of traditional agricultural activities, and a lack of policies, according to the report “A Planet on Fire,” released today in Portugal by ANP/WWF (Nature Association of Portugal/World Wildlife Fund).
“Portugal is the European country hardest hit by wildfires. Over the past 30 years, it has faced the most wildfires and seen the most hectares burned,” the document states, noting that, on average, about 17,000 fires occur in the country each year—35% more than in Spain, another country included in the study.
The WWF report on forest fires in the Iberian Peninsula also points out that an average of about 120,000 hectares are burned each year in Portugal, 20% more than in Spain, despite having 80% less forest area.
“This figure means that every year Portugal loses more than 3% of its forest area to fire, compared to 0.4% in Spain. ”Portugal ranks first in Europe and fourth worldwide in terms of the greatest loss of forest area since the beginning of the 21st century, largely due to the wildfires that ravage the country every summer,” the document states.
The WWF maintains that “year after year, the burnt area keeps growing” in Portugal, attributing this situation to “an endless number of factors, from rural abandonment and the cessation of traditional agricultural activities, to the absence of serious territory management policies and responsible forest management.”.
The report emphasizes that Spain and Portugal “are and will be countries of extreme fires that will very likely experience very dangerous scenarios of similar intensity.”.
The WWF notes that, in recent years, hundreds of people have lost their lives in fires in countries such as Portugal, Greece, Italy, and Spain, but that they will hardly ever reach the extent and duration of those in Australia.
However, it emphasizes that if we continue with this dynamic, fires, especially those affecting the wildland-urban interface area, will put “people's lives at increasingly serious risk.”.
According to WWF, fires no longer represent merely damage to environmental and rural heritage, but are also “a serious risk to people's lives and a burden on public coffers” by leaving thousands displaced and causing unquantifiable material damage.
The association considers that the Portuguese Government should implement the National Rural Fire Integrated Management Plan.
The “A Planet on Fire” report highlights that, globally, the issue of mega-fires is “intrinsically linked to climate change” and points out the existing imbalance between prevention and suppression measures and how these “systematically prove insufficient to solve this environmental problem.”.
The same document also emphasizes that to combat major wildfires, it is essential to focus on prevention, the enhancement of rural areas by making landscapes more resilient, and changing the behavior of the general population.
“2019 goes down in the planet's history as the year of fires, and while the causes differ from country to country, the perfect conditions for this type of phenomenon are the consequence of a common crisis: climate change. The last 20 years have been the hottest on record, and if this trend continues, the fires will too, concluded the report, which also draws a connection between the fires and the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has a clear relationship with deforestation and the loss of biodiversity. Fires, as the primary tool for forest destruction, can be the perfect recipe for the spread of pathogens. The protection of forests worldwide is the most effective and sustainable vaccine, he points out.
The COVID-19 pandemic has already caused more than 477,000 deaths, including 1,543 in Portugal.
SOURCE:
FIRE MAGAZINE
