This year, there have been massive wildfires in the Western U.S., Greece and Turkey. A UN draft report labelled the Mediterranean region a "climate change hotspot" and warned that heatwaves, droughts and fires would become more fierce in the future, supercharged by rising temperatures.

Greece and Turkey have been fighting devastating fires for more than a week as the region suffers its worst heatwave in decades, which has destroyed swathes of forest and grassland.

In the last 10 days, 566.55 square kilometers have been burnt in Greece, according to the European Forest Fire Information System. The average number of square kilometers burnt over the same period between 2008 and 2020 was 17 square kilometers.

Turkey has suffered the worst fires in at least a decade, with nearly 950 square kilometers burnt so far this year as of August 1 compared with an average of 135.16 square kilometers at this point in the year between 2008 and 2020.

The intense weather has caused frequent wildfires in many places around the world.

In Bolivia's eastern Santa Cruz department, forest fires this year have consumed more than 1,470 square kilometers, the regional government reported Saturday.

As in neighboring Brazil, the fires have been aggravated by widespread deforestation aimed at expanding farming or pasture land.

"At a departmental level, 1,472.54 square kilometers have been affected by forest fires," Yovenka Rosado, coordinator of Santa Cruz's Forest Fire Program, announced.

The most severely affected areas border Brazil.

Rosado said a Super Puma helicopter was being used to douse the larger fire sites with water, and emergency personnel and equipment were being deployed to key spots.

Rosado said 831 fires had been reported just in the first days of August, for a total this year of 15,555.

Each year Bolivia confronts forest-fire outbreaks started by settlers in remote areas or by agribusinesses trying to expand their production.

The Friends of Nature Foundation, a Bolivian NGO, estimates that forest fires last year destroyed more than 23,000 square kilometers of forests and grassland. 

In 2019, huge fires in Bolivia's Amazon destroyed about 64,000 square kilometers, the group said.

(With input from AFP.)

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