French President: "The forests must change to withstand new mega fires"
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French President Emmanuel Macron is facing mounting pressure as the country’s escalating wildfire crisis exposes long‑standing weaknesses in forest managemen.
The struggle continues to contain the fires, that are the worst in 70 years. After weeks of severe fires in southwestern France — including Gironde, where tens of thousands have been evacuated — Macron acknowledged that France’s forests must change to withstand a new era of extreme heat, drought, and megafires.
Experts interviewed in the piece argue that decades of land‑use decisions, including monoculture plantations, abandoned rural areas, and insufficient thinning, have created vast fuel loads that burn intensely under record temperatures.
Firefighters and local officials say the current landscape is “not adapted” to modern fire behaviour, which is faster, more unpredictable, and more destructive than in previous decades.
Macron has promised a national overhaul of forest policy, including better prevention, improved land management, and stronger coordination between national and regional authorities. The government is also under pressure after multiple mayors and fire commanders said they lacked sufficient resources during the worst days of the crisis.
The fires — intensified by heatwaves and strong winds — have become a political flashpoint, with critics arguing that France must move beyond emergency response and address structural vulnerabilities in its forests to prevent future catastrophes.
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Cover photo above: Public Domain photo: https://nara.getarchive.net/media/president-emmanuel-macron-the-president-of-france-88e1e8
Photo in text: Wikipedia Creative Commons License: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Macron_t%C3%AAte_et_main_droite.jpg
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