Rural Exodus Fueling European Wildfires

Decades of urban migration by farm workers have created vast areas of flammable brush on abandoned land.

A rural exodus is being cited as a key factor behind Europe's deadly wildfires.

The movement of farm workers from the countryside to cities over recent decades has created vast areas of abandoned land now overgrown with flammable brush.

This accumulation of dry vegetation has become a major fire risk, exacerbating the intensity and spread of wildfires across the continent.