Forest Fires in Algeria Destroy Over 9,000 Hectares of Woodland
06 August 2019
Published by https://www.plenglish.com
ALGERIA – (Prensa Latina) Over 9,000 hectares of woodland have been destroyed in Algeria since June 1, as a result of 1,246 forest fires, government authorities reported on Tuesday.
Referring to the main causes of these incidents, the Forestry General Director, Ali Mahmoudi, set out that 95% were the cause of harmful human activity, as local media reported.
He explained that such fires spread uncontrollably through different areas, including agricultural and forested areas, after numerous farmers and shepherds undertook indiscriminate burning of land, including grazing areas.
According to government agencies, despite the adoption of prevention mechanisms against illegal burning in areas with trees and crops, in recent months 38 of the 48 provinces of this North African country were affected by such incidents.
On the list of territories most damaged by forest fires is the northern province of Tizi Ouzou, in which 196 such events occurred in the last two months.
Algeria has a land area of ​​238 million hectares, of which 2.15 million (approximately 0.9 percent) are covered by woodland.
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