The 2023 wildfire season in the Europe was among the worst this century, according to a European Commission report published on Wednesday.
\nLast year, more than half a million (504,002) hectares, an area twice the size of Luxembourg, was scorched by wildfires, according to a report on Forest Fires in Europe, Middle East and North Africa 2023 by the Commission\u2019s Joint Research Centre.
\nThe three worst years this century by the extent of burnt area mapped by the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS) were 2017 (988,427 ha), 2022 (837,212 ha) and 2007 (588,388 ha).
\nThe report shows that fires intensified during summer 2023, affecting mostly the Mediterranean region, with Greece (near Alexandroupoli) suffering the largest single fire to occur in Europe since the 1980s.
\nClimate change is making wildfires more frequent, and wildfires are increasingly affecting areas that have not been considered fire-prone in the past, the report said. It added that things are likely to get worse, according to the European Climate Risk assessment report published in March.
\nPreliminary data for the first three months of 2024 show almost double the average number of fires, although these did not have major impact in terms of burnt areas.
\nAccording to the report, the wildfires produced some 20 megatonnes of CO2 emissions, equivalent to nearly a third of all emissions from international aviation in the EU in one year.
\nThe final 2023 report, integrating national contributions, is due to be published in the autumn.
\n(Reuters)Wildfires. wildfire season, Europe, climate change<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The 2023 wildfire season in Europe was one of the worst this century, with over half a million hectares scorched. The three worst years for wildfires in the century were 2017, 2022, and 2007. Fires intensified during the summer of 2023, especially in the Mediterranean region. Climate change is causing more frequent wildfires, with areas previously not considered fire-prone now being affected. Preliminary data for the first three months of 2024 show almost double the average number of fires. The wildfires in 2023 produced around 20 megatonnes of CO2 emissions, equivalent to a third of all emissions from international aviation in the EU in one year. The final 2023 report, including national contributions, will be published in the autumn.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":7643,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[589,3348,693,2369,379,201,1841,118,3065,4880,2945,747,187,4361,69,4620,4054,4347,5263,5862,5861,18],"class_list":["post-7642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-other","tag-africa","tag-change","tag-climate-change","tag-data","tag-eu","tag-europe","tag-european-commission","tag-fire","tag-forest","tag-forest-fire","tag-forest-fires","tag-greece","tag-international","tag-mediterranean","tag-middle-east","tag-report","tag-risk","tag-summer","tag-wildfire","tag-wildfire-season","tag-wildfires","tag-world"],"acf":{"keyphrase":"","keywords":"","sourceimg":"","country-category":""},"yoast_head":"\n