Serious consequences on crops and fear that the situation will repeat itself from now on
Europe is facing the worst drought in the last 500 yearsas experts from the European Commission have warned this Tuesday in a report in which they point out that 47% of the territory of the European Union is in August on notice due to drought and 17 percent on alert due to low rainfall .
In total, 64 percent of the European continent is in warning or alert, which increases the danger of the expansion of fires in the territory of the EU. These are the conclusions of the report of the Joint Research Center of the European Commission (JRC, for its acronym in English), after analyzing the data provided by the European Drought Observatory.
Emergency situation
The report confirms the emergency situation recorded in July and consolidates the evolution and impact of the prolonged drought that is plaguing Europe. “According to JRC experts, the current drought appears to be the worst for at least 500 years,” Brussels said in a statement.
Forecasts for harvests this summer point to a fall 16 percent in corn production, 15 percent in soybeans and 12 percent in the case of sunflowers, while the lack of rainfall has affected almost all the rivers in Europe with a significant impact on the hydroelectric sectorriver transport and refrigeration systems.
“The combination of a severe drought and successive heat waves has created unprecedented pressure on water levels across the EU. We are currently registering fires significantly above average and an important impact on crops,” warned the Commissioner for Culture and Innovation, Mariya Gabriel.
According to Bulgarian policy, climate change is “certainly” more noticeable with each passing year and for this reason he has defended the work of the European Executive to study the crisis, putting its best technology at the service of protecting the environment and to avoid crises that hit the citizens of the EU.
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