Portugal has already lost more than 100,000 hectares to fires this year

Aug. 23 () –

The number of hectares of land destroyed this year in Portugal by fires has already exceeded the threshold of 100,000, according to official data from the Institute for the Conservation of Nature and Forests (ICNF).

Specifically, the count accounts for more than 103,000 hectares destroyed, including more than 22,000 in the last week. Of these, 51 percent correspond to forest areas, 39 percent to scrub and 10 percent to agricultural land, reports the Lusa agency.

The ICNF has registered 9,100 incidents since the beginning of 2022, although more than 22,000 hectares burned in the recently extinguished fire in the Sierra de la Estrella alone, approximately a quarter of this natural area.

In relation to the causes, experts estimate the proportion of fires unleashed by the action of arsonists at 22 percent. The Minister of Justice, Catarina Sarmento e Castro, has ruled out this Tuesday that the Government plans to increase the sentences for these people, since she considers that they are already “adjusted” to the seriousness of the events.