00:00Sous-titrage Société Radio-Canada
00:30More than 1 million hectares of forest had burned this year through the end of August, according to data provided by the Copernicus satellite used for Earth observation.
00:53This is almost five times larger than the area affected by forest fires in the EU the previous year.
01:00The most affected member states were Portugal, with 3 percent of territory burned, Cyprus with 2.3 and Spain with 0.8 percent.
01:09Air quality has deteriorated in these areas as greenhouse gas emissions have risen to nearly 39 million tons.
01:16This is nearly four times the approximately 11 million tons of CO2 emitted in the same period in 2024.
01:23The member states can increasingly count on solidarity for extinguishing the fires, but as it all comes down to more technical means, we asked Europeans about the EU's role to deal with this challenge.
01:38In the summer, with the heat that they do in Spain, it is very important for the policies of prevention, much more than then to stop them.
01:47We have to preserve nature and I suppose they would also have to help the countries.
01:53with the EU's recovery been від.
01:54With the EU's help, for example, it is not because of theержs' support.
01:57It is a very hard time to do with the people's support, lack of money.
01:58It is very hard if the EU's support will be able to do with the EU's support.
01:59Il y a beaucoup de soutien, de matériel.
02:01Il y a beaucoup de soutien, de soutien à l'Union Européenne, par exemple,
02:05des avions et des bombes.
02:09Oui, à niveau de meilleurs, oui, de limites aussi,
02:16de les terres soient plus limpies, oui.
02:20Le reporter Euronews Alice Taidi
02:23a couvert la action de l'utilisation dans cette région.
02:26Depuis 2022, l'Union Européenne a été pré-positionné
02:30les équipes de so-called « readiness »
02:33qui sont gestées par l'Emergence de Coordination Centre
02:36pour soutenir les membres.
02:38Comment est-ce que cela fit dans le management
02:40des wildfires qui sont devenus des problèmes dans le bloc ?
02:44Le objectif ici est d'assurer plus rapide de réponse,
02:47mais aussi d'assurer de connaissances sur le terrain,
02:52qui est particulièrement relevant parce que,
02:54en cause de changement climatique,
02:56wildfires are increasingly spreading
02:57to areas of Europe
02:58where they didn't happen so much,
02:59such as Northern and Eastern Europe.
03:01So, for instance, this year,
03:03among the countries that provided firefighters
03:06to France, Spain, Portugal and Greece,
03:08you had Romania, Bulgaria,
03:10Czechia, Estonia, Latvia and Germany.
03:13The EU budget also allocates some funds
03:16for forest fires prevention
03:18within the rural development funds.
03:21But there was some criticism
03:24by the European Court of Auditors.
03:26Why?
03:27Yes.
03:28So, the ECA found in its review
03:29that a lot of the allocated EU funds
03:31do not actually target areas
03:33most prone to natural disasters.
03:35So, it flagged, for instance,
03:36that a lot of these decisions
03:38are made using widely out-of-date data.
03:41So, Greece, for instance,
03:42which is traditionally very impacted by wildfire,
03:44the list of areas prone to wildfire
03:47is 45 years old.
03:49But the ECA did, however, welcome the fact
03:52that more and more money
03:53is now being spent on prevention
03:54rather than just response.
03:56Environmental activists and scientists
03:58said that the recently approved
04:00nature restoration law
04:02could play an important role
04:04if there was more political will to implement it.
04:07What are governments being asked for in this area?
04:11So, the aim of the law
04:12is to restore degraded natural habitats
04:15like forest, of course,
04:17but also wetlands and peatlands
04:19in order to improve carbon storage
04:21but also boost biodiversity and water retention.
04:24So, member states have got to submit a plan
04:27outlining the steps that they will take
04:29in order to achieve that goal.
04:30Increased water retention,
04:32increased biodiversity and soil health
04:34as well as better forest management
04:36can actually help curtail the spread of wildfire
04:39as well as boost climate change adaptation
04:42towards extreme weather events.
04:45In 2025, the EU organized a pool of 22 planes
04:49and 650 firefighters
04:51that were made available by 14 member states.
04:53Most of them were sent to the higher risk countries
04:56France, Greece, Portugal and Spain.
04:59Some teams also arrived at Croatia, Cyprus,
05:02Czechia, Italy, Slovakia and Sweden.
05:05Between 2026 and 2029, a new fleet of 12 planes
05:09and 5 helicopters financed by the Commission
05:12will be permanently deployed in France, Greece,
05:15Portugal, Spain, Italy and Croatia.
05:19A nossa convidada é a eurodeputada portuguesa Catarina Martins,
05:23do Grupo Político à Esquerda
05:25e membro da Comissão de Ambiente do Parlamento Europeu.
05:28O mecanismo de proteção civil da União Europeia
05:31é suficiente para fazer face aos incêndios florestais
05:34que se vêm agravando por toda a União Europeia.
05:37Se nós não fizermos nada para proteger o território,
05:40para responder às alterações climáticas,
05:42bem, não vai haver meios de proteção civil que cheguem
05:45e vamos precisar de um mecanismo cada vez maior,
05:47porque o desastre vai ser cada vez maior.
05:49E a verdade é que o investimento nesta área precisa de crescer.
05:54Precisamos de ter mais rápidos a agir,
05:56a proteger as populações, a proteger o território
05:59e nos mecanismos de solidariedade.
06:00A Comissão Europeia financia vários projetos
06:03até de prevenção, de criação de resiliência
06:05aos flores florestais, há até um plano de ação
06:08que foi criado em 2022.
06:10Mas os cientistas, os ambientalistas,
06:12dizem que a prevenção não é ainda uma prioridade para os governos.
06:17Não, a verdade é que não há investimento no território.
06:19A verdade é que nós devemos ter que alterar a forma
06:21como organizamos o território e até os modos de produção
06:24e nada disso está a ser feito.
06:26Não está a ser feito nem uma adaptação da agricultura,
06:29nem uma adaptação da política florestal,
06:31nem uma coesão territorial.
06:33E o que está a ser decidido sobre os próximos
06:35quadros financeiros da União Europeia
06:37tende a piorar esta situação.
06:39Quando aquilo que a segurança das populações mais necessitava
06:42era, por exemplo, de proteção civil
06:44e de intervenção no território para ele ser mais seguro,
06:48nós estamos a gastar e a prometer gastar
06:51milhares de milhões em indústria de defesa
06:54que, na verdade, não vai defender as populações europeias.
06:57Considera que a União Europeia está a reduzir as suas ambições
07:00no combate às alterações climáticas que aumentam o aquecimento global
07:04e que são um fator muito sério do agravamento dos incêndios florestais?
07:08Há neste momento um discurso muito perigoso,
07:10que é achar que não vale a pena.
07:11Ou seja, que as questões climáticas não valem a pena,
07:13que agora vamos fazer uma competitividade
07:15baseada em qualquer outra coisa que não tenha critérios ambientais.
07:19Lembrar que a Europa é o continente que está a aquecer mais depressa.
07:22Isto não é uma coisa lá longe, isto é aqui.
07:25Os riscos são aqui.
07:26Teremos inundações novamente,
07:28teremos fogos novamente,
07:29teremos este susto outra vez
07:31e, portanto, a política climática não pode mesmo ser abandonada.
07:34Forest fires don't just consume trees and biodiversity,
07:38they are costing lives,
07:40putting health at risk due to poor air quality,
07:44destroying homes and businesses.
07:46With a risky season extending almost year round
07:50and encompassing more regions of the EU,
07:53urgent action and strong policies are needed.
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