The giant wildfires in France and Spain are the countries’ largest on record, and at roughly 100,000 acres each, the blazes are bigger than all but six of last year’s wildfires in the American West.
Studies have shown that global warming is driving Southern Europe’s recent increase in sprawling, fast-moving fires that create their own weather and can be all but impossible to put out. But experts say there’s another factor behind the continent’s large fires, one rooted in societal changes that could be hard to reverse.
In parts of Europe, a generational shift away from farming has replaced patchworks of pastures and plowed fields with untamed vegetation that burns intensely during hot, dry summers like this one.
“Climate change needs to be taken into account, but also the social changes are very important,” said Emilio Chuvieco, a professor of geography at the University of Alcalá in Spain. “There is no simple solution to big problems.”