Acres Of Land In Malta Have Burned Down During Recent Heatwave
Large fires are engulfing Malta’s Mediterranean neighbours amid a seemingly never-ending heatwave bringing a renewed focus on climate change. The scorching sun has had its impact in Malta too, with one local councillor detailing how acres of land have burned in recent weeks.
“In Wied Qirda, around 25 tumoli of land, which included mature locust trees, were burned. Another 10 tumoli burned down in Girgenti Valley. Apart from the reeds, mature poplar trees were burned, a few of them old trees. Lost,” Zebbug local councillor Steve Zammit Lupi wrote on social media.
“Let us not forget the huge fires in 2019 that burned 180 acres of land in Mizieb, as many as 25 football pitches, among which 4000 trees were burned.”
Zammit Lupi also shared images of the devastation of the recent fires in the area, some of many happening on the island at the moment.
“The huge drought we are experiencing does not help. Once we live through warmer summers, and the effects of climate change come, the chance of fires increases, they will spread faster and the destruction is greater,” he said.
It is clear that the past few years have been hotter than most in living memory can remember. However, a recent IPCC report has found that the past five years have been the hottest on record since 1850.
Things are also set to worsen in the coming years unless things are stopped now.
Global surface temperatures were 1.09C higher in the decade between 2011-2020 than 1850-1900. It is also now certain that hot, extreme weather (including heatwaves) have become more frequent since the 1950s.
Malta declared a climate emergency almost two years ago but the government is yet to implement major policies tailor-made to reach a distanced target date of carbon neutrality. Until now, the government’s only plan is a 2050 strategy.
this target date is one that is easy to hide behind because, by 2050, politicians who fail to act on and meet the targets will either be dead or retired, virtually meaning that they are escaping accountability.
Till then, the world might just continue burning.
Photo source: Steve Zammit Lupi
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