Portugal Asks EU to Save UNESCO-Listed Forest in Madeira

Portugal has requested the European Union's assistance in fighting a large-scale forest fire in Madeira that could destroy a laurel forest included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

This is reported by France 24.

‘In the coming hours, we will activate the EU civil protection mechanism,’ a Portuguese government source said on Wednesday.

The fire on the island began on 14 August in the municipality of Ribeira Brava, after which it spread to the neighbouring municipalities of Camara de Lobos and Ponta do Sol west of the capital Funchal due to strong winds.

According to the Copernicus satellites, as of 20 August, 4,392 hectares of the island's territory had been burned by the wildfire.

Local authorities reported that about 200 people had been evacuated from the fire zone due to the risk of smoke poisoning. At the same time, the president of the regional civil protection service, Antonio Nunez, said that so far the damage caused by the fire is small, but the fire is rapidly approaching the protected forest area.

As The Gaze previously reported, on 19 August, 11 people, including two firefighters, were slightly injured in a forest fire in the municipality of Canet-en-Roussillon in southern France. Another 3,000 people were evacuated.