Written by Sarah Meier Introduction In recent years news coverage of orange-coloured skies, evacuations, and devastation caused by wildfires has become all too familiar. Even though one tends to only hear about the most calamitous and tragic of fires, every summer Southern European countries experience a large number of fires of varying degrees of seriousness (San-Miguel-Ayanz et al., 2022). These events can be highly disruptive and destructive, affecting many sectors of the economy, such as forestry and agriculture (Butry et al., 2001; Rego et al., 2013), industry and construction (Kramer et al., 2021; Wang et al., 2021), and recreation and […]
Written by Sarah Meier Introduction The Mediterranean area is the most fire-prone region within Europe with high wildfire incidence (San-Miguel-Ayanz et al., 2020). Not only do the Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece, and France together account for about 85% of the total burned area in Europe, the Mediterranean area is also particularly vulnerable in that it is densely populated, characterised by a large wildland urban interface, and due to the species richness and a high proportion of endemism, it represents a biodiversity hotspot (Batllori et al., 2013; Myers et al., 2000). Notably, fire has played an integral role in shaping landscapes […]
