Published March 24, 2026 | Version v1
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Towards scientifically supported and integrated wildfire management and policy in Belgium

Authors/Creators

  • 1. ROR icon Ghent University
  • 2. Université de Liège

Contributors

Description

Climate change is increasing wildfire risk across Europe, including in countries traditionally considered less fire prone, such as Belgium. Longer droughts and shifting land use (urbanisation, insect-driven forest degradation, …) are creating conditions for large and hard-to-control fires, as seen in Achouffe (2025), the simultaneous wildfires in Antwerp and Limburg in April 2020, or Belgium’s biggest wildfire in recent times in Baelen (2011). Belgium’s dense wildland urban interface (WUI), limited public awareness, fragmented governance, and lack of wildfire expertise further increase vulnerability.


This document outlines key challenges and priority actions identified by wildfire stakeholders across Belgium and united in the Belgian Wildfire Network to initiate this process.

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Towards scientifically supported and integrated wildfire management and policy in Belgium.pdf

Files (28.0 MB)