London-Sana
The forest fires that swept Europe recently destroyed vast areas of land and green spaces equivalent to a fifth of the size of Belgium due to successive severe heat waves and historical droughts that the continent has faced.
The British newspaper, “The Guardian”, quoted data from the European Forest Fire Information System “IFES” that 659,541 hectares of land across the continent burned between last January and this August, the largest number at this time of year since data began to be recorded in 2006. This figure is 56 percent higher than the previous record set in 2017.
According to current trends, forest fires could lead to the loss of more than one million hectares this year.
According to Ives data, the total area of land burned in bushfires so far this year is nearly four times that country's full-year average of 66,965 hectares since 2006 when records began.
Spain is the most affected so far, as it lost an area estimated at 244,924 hectares, followed by Romania with an area estimated at 150,528, and Portugal third with an area of 77,292. More than 60 thousand hectares were burned in France, which is half of what it lost in the whole of 2019.
Most parts of Europe are experiencing a severe heat wave, with temperatures reaching about 45 degrees Celsius in some areas, and forest fires have spread to several countries, including Portugal, Spain, France and Germany.
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