Greenpeace report says Portugal still reacts rather than prevents wildfires

A Greenpeace Portugal report, based on over 80 years of data analysed by the University of Coimbra's CEIF, concludes that Portugal still relies too heavily on weather conditions and emergency response to manage wildfires, rather than tackling structural causes. Despite fewer ignitions over the last 20 years, factors like climate change, rural abandonment, fuel accumulation and urban-forest sprawl keep the country vulnerable, as seen in 2003, 2005, 2017 and 2025. Researchers and Greenpeace call for year-round structural prevention, landscape management and economic revitalisation of rural areas, warning that emergency response alone will always arrive too late.