New research warns that climate change may worsen wildfire conditions across the continent, while better fire management could help limit the damage.
Europe could experience a 39 percent increase in the area burned by wildfires by the end of the century, even under a favorable climate scenario, according to a new study.
The researchers said increasingly hot, dry and windy weather could create conditions for fires to spread more rapidly and become more difficult to control.
If global temperatures rise by 3.6°C above pre-industrial levels, the study projects that the area affected by wildfires could almost triple across Europe.
Better wildfire prevention, preparedness and firefighting could significantly reduce the expected increase, the researchers found. However, they stressed that fire management must be accompanied by efforts to curb global warming, as The Guardians reports.
The warning comes amid a severe wildfire season in Europe, with more than 600,000 hectares already burned across the European Union.
The study underscores the importance of strengthening fire prevention and management while reducing greenhouse gas emissions to limit the long-term threat of increasingly extreme wildfires.
