Portugal was the second-worst affected country in Europe by forest fires in 2022, with 153 wildfires burning an area of 949 km2, according to a report published by the European Environment Agency on Wednesday.
The first country is Spain, with a burnt area of 2,754 km2 and 208 wildfires, whereas France came third with 74 wildfires that destroyed an area of 465 km2.
The study also estimates that the Iberian Peninsula will experience a “sharp increase” in the number of days with high fire danger due to climate change and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.
In Portugal and Spain, the number of people living near forests and exposed to high fire danger levels for at least ten days a year would increase by 15 million (24%) if the global temperature rose by 3°C by the end of the century.
The agency also noted that the 2022 forest fire season was the second worst since 2000, with more than 5,000 km2 – twice the area of Luxembourg – burnt in June, July and August, and a record area of Natura2000 nature protection sites affected.
Losses caused by the fires reached at least €2 billion in Europe last year, and CO2 emissions in the EU and the UK between 1 June and 31 August 2022 are estimated at 6.4 megatonnes – the highest figure since 2007.
Extreme weather and climate-related events caused an estimated €560 billion in economic losses in the EU between 1980 and 2021. In the same period, almost 195,000 deaths were caused by floods, storms, heat and cold waves, forest fires and landslides.
(Ivone Gravato | Lusa.pt)
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