Med at serious risk from fires, WWF report warns

Fires have eaten through roughly 0.6 percent of Europe's Mediterranean forests each year from 2009 to 2018, a recent report from six country offices of global conservation group World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) has shown, warning that fires are increasing in frequency and virulence.

Titled "The Mediterranean Burns" and written by the local offices of France, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Turkey, the study reported that 80 percent of fires in Europe take place in its Mediterranean area, with the six countries accounting for 56,000 wildfires in the period from 2009 to 2018.
Most worryingly, 96 percent of the fires in the area are caused by humans: 40 percent as a result of negligence and 26 percent deliberately, with the remaining 28 percent of unknown motivation.

"Ever more frequently, the conditions are perfect for fire crises that are difficult to keep...