Last year, in 2023, Europe, the Middle East and Africa collectively experienced their worst wildfires since 2000, according to a report published by European Union Commission’s Joint Research Centre. According to the Forest Fires 2023 report, nearly 500,000 hectares of natural land which is equivalent to about half the size of the island of Cyprus experienced wildfires during the year. The report unequivocally asserted that the spate in instances of wildfires are a  clear impact of climate change. It noted that the year also saw ‘megafires’, impossible to bring under control with conventional firefighting methods. “One of them, near the city of Alexandroupolis in the Greek region of East Macedonia and Thrace, was the largest single wildfire recorded in the EU since 2000, when the European Forest Fire Information System started tracking,” it stated.