2023•09•08     Bonn, Germany

© Angelos Tzortzinis / AFP

This summer, many Southern European countries again are facing wildfires on top of dealing with record temperatures. The fires have costed lives, while also having devastating impacts on ecosystems and natural resources. EURACTIV dedicated a Beyond the Byline podcast episode to fires in the Mediterranean region to find out what we can learn from them.

UNU-EHS Senior Scientist Zita Sebesvari was among the experts interviewed to talk about what is driving the fires, how prevention measures can be improved and how ecosystems can recover. “We can rethink how much we are actually investing in fire prevention and fire suppression. We are spending sixteen times more money on fire suppression, so on dealing with the fire when it is already there, than on fire prevention. Only one-sixteenth is going into prevention. This is something we need to radically change”, she said.

Find out more on wildfire risk management and reduction in the full episode, available here.