In 2022, Croatia battled severe wildfires, prompting innovative solutions supported by EU funding. Unique challenges, including abandoned fields and fragmented ownership, heightened the risk. The European Data Journalism Network’s transnational journalistic investigation of wildfires explored the issue.
Summer 2022 saw a forest fire crisis for Croatia’s coastal region, with extensive damage and thousands evacuated, including unusual activity in typically unaffected areas like Istria. The article by Chiara Marchesini – OBC Transeuropa, part of the Wildfires in Europe investigation, delved deeper into the causes of Croatia’s susceptibility to extreme fires. Changes in the landscape over the last century, such as the abandonment of farmlands in Dalmatia created dense, highly flammable vegetation. Clearing abandoned fields faces challenges of property fragmentation, complicating efforts to manage and prevent wildfires, particularly in privately owned high-risk areas.
