Vulnerabilities Cyprus

According to climate change scenarios, fire risk is shown to increase nearly everywhere in the Mediterranean region, especially in inland locations. The southern Mediterranean is at risk of forest fire all year round. In the Iberian Peninsula, northern Italy and over the Balkans, the period of extreme fire risk lengthens substantially. The only region that shows little change in fire risk is in the southeastern Mediterranean. Projections of forest fire risk in 2030-2060, compared with 1961-1990, suggestthat Cyprus, like the islands of Crete, Sardinia, Sicily (southernmost Italy too) and the Peloponnese see no increase or decrease. Cyprus may even see a small decrease of fire risk in every month.

Adaptation strategies Cyprus

Special attention must be given to improve forest resilience to fires. Sustainable forest management must be promoted in order to reduce the fuel potential for forest fires. Forests must be classified according to the risk of fire and high‐risk areas must be designated. Early warning systems and water supply systems for firefighting must be established and public awareness should be further raised (2).

References

The references below are cited in full in a separate map 'References'. Please click here if you are looking for the full references for Cyprus.

1. Giannakopoulos et al. (2005)
2. Shoukri and Zachariadis (2012)