A European Environment Agency briefing explains how nature-based solutions can help reduce wildfire risk and support recovery after fires.
Europe’s response to wildfires is gradually moving beyond emergency reaction. A European Environment Agency briefing explains how nature-based solutions can help reduce fire risk before a crisis and support healthier recovery after fires.
The measures are not mysterious. They include more varied forests, better fuel management, green firebreaks, grazing in the right places, close-to-nature forestry and restoration that pays attention to soil and water after a fire.
This matters because many European landscapes are becoming more vulnerable. Climate pressure, land abandonment and expanding settlement near fire-prone vegetation can all increase risk. Suppression alone is not enough if the landscape remains ready to burn intensely again.
The hopeful part is that prevention can also improve nature. A forest with more species, ages, openings and healthier ground is not only harder to burn catastrophically; it is also better habitat and a more resilient place for people to live near.
Source: European Environment Agency