With 2026 likely to be regarded as an exceptionally severe wildfire season in Western Europe, the EUROPEAN OUTDOOR CONSERVATION ASSOCIATION (EOCA) has highlighted how restoring nature can help build resilience to increasing wildfire risk.
France experienced its worst wildfire season since 2012 while Spain has already seen more than 244 000 hectares burned. Hundreds of thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes across France and Spain. The economic cost is huge, with wildfires costing the EU nearly €3bn every year but the cost to wildlife and nature is often untold. So, what is causing these fires, and are they really ‘wild’ at all?
This year’s record-breaking heat has impacted much of Western Europe with not only high temperatures but also prolonged periods of very low rainfall and extremely dry conditions. A combination of factors is drying the ground and vegetation, creating the perfect conditions for fires to start and spread. The extreme heat and dryness experienced across Western Europe have been made more likely and more severe by decades of accumulated greenhouse gas emissions from the burning of fossil fuels.
Climate change does not necessarily start every fire but it is changing the conditions in which fires start, spread and become more difficult to control. Human interventions in the landscape have reduced fire resilience and increased the ability of fire to spread.
In the UK, the impact has come from both the draining of upland habitats for agriculture and rotational burning which can dry peatlands and promote highly flammable vegetation for grouse shooting. In France, a predominant problem has been monocultures of non-native tree species as part of forestry plantations. Natural ecosystems, subject to natural processes, are both more fire-resistant and quicker to recover from the impact of fire.
Wildfire has been a natural part of ecosystem function for thousands of years. But both the frequency and severity of recent fire seasons have been driven by man-made changes to our climate and our landscapes. It is clear that this year’s fires are far from simply ‘wild’.
EOCA believes action is needed on three fronts:
- Urgent action on Climate Breakdown. Immediately cut greenhouse gas emissions, transition to renewable energy, and support the protection and restoration of nature that can capture and store carbon.
- Rewild and restore our landscapes. Work to rewet our landscapes by blocking drainage ditches and restoring wetlands, remove invasive and non-native species where appropriate (especially conifer plantations) and allow a diverse range of species to thrive. Wetter, more varied (mosaic) habitats can be more resilient to fire.
- Responsible outdoor recreation. While fire risk is high, we must be responsible when using the outdoors and avoid accidental sources of ignition. No naked flames, no fires, no BBQs. As people who love and use wild places, we all have a responsibility to help protect them.
Practical action
By reducing greenhouse gas emissions, restoring healthy and diverse ecosystems, rewetting our landscapes and changing the way we manage land, we can help build resilience to fire and protect the wildlife, wild places and communities that depend on these landscapes.
EOCA funds and supports conservation projects designed to reduce fire risk and build resilience across the globe.
ENGLAND – restoring native habitats and supporting a rich variety of wildlife to improve ecosystem health and increase resilience to climate change in West Cumbria. Aiming ultimately to restore 10 000 hectares, the project will remove non-native species, enabling natural regeneration and supporting the planting of native trees and wildflowers.
SOUTH AFRICA – more than 82 000 invasive pines have been cleared across 280 hectares of the Cape Floral Kingdom, allowing the diverse fynbos ecosystem to recover. The project is helping to protect 98 threatened species, including the Cape leopard, while significantly reducing water losses and the risk of hot fires.
NEPAL – working with local communities, this project is reducing the risk of fire in grassland, forest and farmland. It includes the planting and safeguarding of 12 000 native trees, trialling a change in grassland management from controlled spring fires to manual cutting in winter over 300 hectares and piloting composting rather than burning crop residues with 50 farmers over 600 hectares.
BORNEO – EOCA funding contributed to the construction of 20 dams on an illegal logging canal in Sebangau National Park, Borneo to restore and rewet an area of drained peatland. This is helping to reduce the threat of dry-season forest fires on peatland damaged and degraded by years of illegal logging, reducing the risk of fires spreading from forest margins into primary forest.
Traynor On The Trail 