How Europe can make its landscapes more fire-resilient
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- European Union wildfires have already burned more than 4,300 square kilometers this year—on pace to break last year's record of 10,800 square kilometers—while fires near Bordeaux and Madrid forced one of the largest evacuations since World War II.
- Johann Goldammer at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry says roughly 90% of fire budgets go to suppression and only 10% to prevention, and that ratio should be reversed so prevention commands 90% of available funding.
- Raúl Cordero at the University of Groningen published a study this week finding that while southern Europe's average wildfire count and area have declined since 1981, hot, dry, windy fire weather days have more than doubled, signaling 'a new era of large fires.'
- The Landes forest in France—Europe's largest human-made forest at 10,000 square kilometers, originally planted by Napoleon III—has burned repeatedly, including a devastating 2022 fire, because landowners keep replanting pine monocultures that raise fire risk, similar to Portugal's eucalyptus stands that fueled the 2017 Pedrógão Grande fire that killed 66 people.
- Prescribed burns in the western United States reduced 2020 wildfire severity by 16% and harmful particulate emissions by 14%, but European regulations and local opposition often block the technique—Spain has deployed goats, sheep, and cows to eat brush while France has cleared only 30% of risky brush due to conflicts with biodiversity rules.
- Stefan Doerr at Swansea University, citing firefighters near Barcelona, says letting mild winter fires burn under low-wind conditions lets them reduce fuel loads before windier weather arrives—calling unreplaced pine forests 'a bomb' that will inevitably ignite later.
Why it matters: With over 4,300 square kilometers already burned in the EU and the Cordero study showing fire weather days have more than doubled across southern Europe, the way Europe allocates its fire budget—90% suppression, 10% prevention per Goldammer—will determine whether forests become uncontrollable 'bombs' or resilient mosaics. The pending question is whether Europe's governments reorient budgets toward prescribed burns, brush clearing, and landscape redesign before the next heatwave.
