Is Europe Burning or Is It Getting Burned?

August 15th, 2021

By Cemre Türkmen

Wildfires in Turkey, Greece, Italy, Albania, Northern Macedonia, Bulgaria and Kosovo-either by
natural causes or sabotage - have increased in severity compared to recent years due to drought and
extreme temperatures. Scientists believe climate change is responsible for exacerbating fires. Science
is also aware that measures taken against climate change are insufficient in countries where there is a
risk of fire. We decried the causes of fire risk in Mediterranean and Balkan countries and the
relationship between climate change and forest fires.

 Why is the Mediterranean region prone to fire?

Wildfires in the summer are a natural part of the Mediterranean region. In the decade before 2016 in
Spain, France, Portugal, Italy and Greece, the five southern European countries where wildfires are
most common, about 48 thousand wildfires per year burned 457 thousand hectares. According to
scientists, flames can actually contribute to regeneration and biodiversity in these regions. Those
living in hot and arid areas in southern Europe have also learned to cope with medium-sized fires.
They have managed to reduce the number and size of fires since 1980 by implementing advanced fire
prevention strategies. But in recent years, fires have been hovering above their normal size and
severity. Devastating wildfires claimed hundreds of lives in an area stretching from Turkey to Spain in
2017 and 2018, while countries in Central and Northern Europe, including Sweden, surrendered to the
flames. These fires, which have not been experienced before, are linked to extreme droughts and
heatwaves.

 What started the fires?

July was the second warmest month ever recorded in Europe, and the third worldwide. The south of
the continent has been the focus of extreme heat. Greece and Turkey are in perhaps the worst
heatwave in 30 years. This is reminiscent of the fire season in 1987, which claimed more than 500
lives in Greece alone. More than 200 wildfires have also erupted in Turkey in the last two weeks.
Natural causes such as lightning or arson can be equally responsible for starting fires, but extreme heat
is the main culprit for the destruction that increases the impact of fires and occurs. That explains the
burning of at least more than 55 percent of the area, compared with the average for the past 12 years as
of August 5. Extreme temperatures now require new forest management and new fire-fighting
strategies. A study published this year called "Understanding changes in southern European fires" also
found that "wildfire management in many Mediterranean regions is aimed at stopping fires and is not
compatible with ongoing global change."

 What does climate have to do with all this?

Global warming is leading to fire-related weather conditions, as has been observed in recent years,
especially in Australia and California. Climate change has increased the risk of wildfires in many parts
of the world. In Greece in 2018, more than 100 people died as a result of fires called the "Attica fires".
It was the second deadliest fire of the century, following the so-called "Black Saturday" fires in
Australia in 2009. "An increase in fire-prone areas and longer fire seasons are predicted in many
European regions," the European Environment Agency says. Despite the European Yesil Agreement
and the Paris Climate Agreement, carbon emissions cannot be lowered quickly enough to limit this
warming. "Global carbon emissions have increased by 60 percent since 1990," says Mojib Latif, a
climate scientist at the Helmholtz Center for Ocean Research in Germany, and says that in 2020,
reduced emissions due to the pandemic will increase again in 2021.

 How are the fires affecting the climate?

According to the climate organization Carbon Brief, forest fires in the world are responsible for 5 to 8
percent of 3 million 300 thousand premature deaths caused by greenhouse gas emissions and poor air
quality. But carbon emissions caused by wildfires have declined in recent decades. This is because of
the success in forest fire prevention in recent years. But the risk remains because of the severity or
intensity of the fire. Because when forests are too burned to grow again, nature's carbon absorption
decreases. And when wildfires, which increase in intensity, destroy serious forest cover, the loss of
living things that absorb carbon can be more devastating for the climate.

These wildfires may or may not be a terrorist attack... Investigations are continuing. But even though it
wasn't done by a group of people, the culprit is obvious: we are the culprit. Rising temperatures,
inadequate measures, research that has not been taken into account, warnings that we never once look
back on, animals and plants that we don't care about more than ourselves... We did all of them. If we
continue like this, we will have no forests to burn, no world to warm up in the future.