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Date Published: 24/05/2022
ARCHIVED - Greenpeace warns of increased risk of wildfires in Spain
The risk of forest fires in Spain has skyrocketed along with the high temperatures
Spain has been thrown suddenly into summer, with weeks of relentless rain giving way to the warmest May in two decades. But while the improving weather is welcomed by holidaymakers, Greenpeace has warned that the threat of wildfires is looming large, which can easily lead to loss of human life and devastate the delicate balance of the ecosystem.
Greenpeace explained that the daily weather index is calculated from four factors: the temperature of dry air, the relative humidity of the air, the speed of the wind and the precipitation recorded in the last 24 hours.
With the clear skies and soaring temperatures of recent days, Aemet has warned that the combination has resulted in the risk of forest fires being escalated to extreme, very high or high in several areas of Spain.
The current mini heatwave may be the earliest one ever recorded, but the phenomenon is becoming increasingly common, and stifling summer temperatures have now become the norm.
Incredibly though, a total of 3,479 forest fires have scorched almost 15,000 hectares of land in Spain already this year, well before the mercury has reached its zenith; a fact that becomes less astonishing when we consider that around 95% of all blazes are caused by people, whether accidental or intentional.
Many communities, such as the Murcia Region, have placed a ban on the burning of agricultural waste which should alleviate the problem somewhat, but experts from Greenpeace have argued that managing to extinguish the flame is only part of the solution.
The activists have instead called for a three-pronged approach, which includes:
- Reducing the probability of forest fires starting in the first place by encouraging new control measures and debates on the cultural use of fires
- Reducing the chance of fires spreading by ensuring Spain has plenty of resilient forest masses
- Putting a firm expiration date on the use of fossil fuels and urgently moving to a 100% renewable energy system.
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