The images of the Corbières wildfire motivated me to publish a slightly revised version of my text on my ‚paysages‘ blog, which I sent to Bloomberg journalist Joe Wertz (see below in Italic). He had asked me some questions about the current wildfire situation in Mediterranean regions at the beginning of July 2025. I don’t know if part of my little text has entered in any journalistic publication. But I think what I wrote down in the first days of July, has not lost any of their relevance, quite the contrary. The Corbières‘ wildfire – or “L’incendie du massif des Corbières de 2025” – how the fire is called in French is the second largest wild fire in France since 1949. The largest and deadliest forest fire in France was the 1949 Landes forest fire, in which 50,000 hectares (500 km2) of forest land were burnt[1] – and 82 people killed. In the Corbières currently (08.08.2025), about 17.000 ha of forest & garrigues bushlands were consumed by flames.
I know the region very well, having conducted fieldwork there over many years and taught university students about Mediterranean field and fire ecology[2]. I have also participated in prescribed fire training in this area with some of my students[3]. Additionally, I have family connections in this region, specifically in Leucate on the Mediterranean coastline of the Corbières, which is also known as ‚les Corbières maritimes‚ [4] .
My personal perception is that approximately half of the landscape surface of the Corbières maritimes has been burned. This wildfire, like many others in the Mediterranean, is the consequence of long-term rural abandonment, bush encroachment, and “wild” suburban sprawl what is often referred to as ‚Californisation‚ in francophone geography[5] . In recent years, climate change has exacerbated fire risks in these high-fuel-load landscapes. As in the area between Cap Leucate and the Spanish border (Ringeisen 2024), the Corbières Maritimes have been exposed to an ongoing drought and several repeated heat waves in recent years. Even though I haven’t calculated any „climate impact models“ for the Corbières myself, I would say that after more than 30 years of fieldwork in this area, ongoing climate change is leaving its mark on the landscapes of the Corbières and many other regions around the old-world Mediterranean basin—the „Mare Nostrum“ of Roman geography.
Of course, there is no single cause explanation for wildfire risks in Mediterranean landscapes. But it seems certain that climate change is worsening the situation.
For many years, I have warned about this dramatic evolution in Mediterranean landscapes through scientific publications, press interviews, and texts in my ‚paysages‘ blog[6]. However, my words seemed to have been carried away by the wind—or, to name a local storm, the Tramontane has blown all these warnings into the Gulf of Lion. But this does not only concern my personal warnings; all the warnings from scientists around the world about increasing wildfire risks and climate change seem to fade away unheard in an ocean of silence.
Of course, nature will recover; blooming flowers will emerge from the ashes in the Corbières. However, for the people living in these burnt areas, restarting their lives will be very difficult. A forest fire that has burned about 17,000 hectares of landscape also completely changes the human geography of the affected land. Will people return to the partly burnt villages? What will the „néoruraux“ do?
Scientists researching forest or wildfires often focus on „vegetation recovery“ or the impact of fires on ecosystem services. However, in Europe, people live in these burnt areas, and for them, such a fire event is a catastrophe, upending their entire lives—as is currently the case in the fire area of the Corbières Maritimes, known as „L’incendie du massif des Corbières de 2025.“
Below, in italics, is the text written at the beginning of July for journalist Joe Wertz. It was slightly revised on August 8, 2025, to include information about the August 2025 wildfire in the Corbières
Mediterranean France, and Italy), Western Europe (UK, non-Mediterranean France, Belgium), and Central Europe (Germany, Switzerland, and Austria). In Mediterranean regions, recent fires, such as the incendies de Narbonne – Bages – Sigean on July 7, 2025, where the motorway A9 to Spain was interrupted due to the fires, indicate that we will face more violent and intense fires. Additionally, the ‚Californisation‘ of suburbs will increase wildfire hazards, as demonstrated by the recent fires in Marseille-Pennes-Mirabeau on July 8, 2025. In this incident, entire residential areas were burnt down, and the Marseille- Provence International Airport had to be shut down. The French fire department, arguably the best-equipped and trained in Europe for fighting forest fires, was significantly challenged by the simultaneous occurrence of these two fires. The simultaneous occurrence of intensive and very dangerous forest fires will become a common scenario in Western Mediterranean countries due to climate change. The aggressive wildfires in the Corbières in August 2025 demonstrated that these intense fires stretched the French fire brigade to their operational limits, utilizing 9 of the 12 Canadair CL-415 firefighting aircraft available in France.
Moreover, we will also witness more large and deadly forest fires, similar to the historical Landes Forest Fires in 1949 (which killed 82 people) or the historical fire on the Lüneburg Heath in 1975. Climate change will not only affect wildfire dynamics in Mediterranean ecosystems but also transform many regions in Europe into wildfire risk landscapes, even in french brittany and some larger parts of the UK – as recently the wildfire in the Forêt de Brocéliande (17.07.2025) shows.“
Bibliography and Further Reading
This bibliography includes my own works, as well as those of my colleagues—some of which are still written in French—and encompasses ‚grey literature.‘ However, to gain a deep understanding of landscape dynamics, one must also speak (and read) the language of the people inhabiting that landscape. In the Corbières, that language is French. I will try to add more references over time.
Curt, Thomas, Frejaville, Thibaut (2017) : Wildfire Policy in Mediterranean France: How Far is it Efficient and Sustainable? July 2017, Risk Analysis 38(11), DOI: 10.1111/risa.12855
Curt, Thomas & Rigolot, Eric (2020) : Prévenir les risques d’incendies de forêt dans un contexte de changement global. Sciences Eaux & Territoires Numéro 33(3), DOI: 10.3917/set.033.0050
Curt, Thomas; Helly, Christelle; Barbero, Renaud; Dupuy, Jean-Luc; Mouillot, Florent; Raufault, Julien (Eds)(2022) : Feux de Végétation. : comprendre leur diversité et leur évolution. Versailles, 2022 © éditions Quæ, 2022 Versailles, ISBN 978-2-7592-3507-0
Garrone, B. (2004) : Le feu dans la nature mythes et réalité. Prades -le- Lez (Les Ecologistes de l‘ Euzière). ISBN 2-906128-17-1.
Neff, Christophe (2003) : Les Corbières maritimes – forment-elles un étage de végétation méditerranéenne thermophile masqué par la pression humaine?. The mediterranean world – environment and history. Ed.: É. Fouache, 191–202, Elsevier.
Ringeisen, Laura (2024): Signs of Climate Change in the Mediterranean Area in Southwestern France between Cap Leucate and Cap Béar. Master’s Thesis in Geography (Supervisors: Dr. Christophe Neff/Prof. Almut Arneth, IFGG, KIT). Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), DOI: 10.5445/IR/1000184793 .
Christophe Neff, Grünstadt 08 of August 2025
[1] See also „The Fatal Forest Fire – remembering the “1949 Mega fire” in the „Forêt des Landes” (South West France)”.
[2] See « Blognotice 16.06.2022: Retour à Leucate – des vagues de la méditerranée qui se brisent au Cap Leucate jusques aux neiges du massif du Carlit – récit d’un cours de géobotanique en juin 2022 ».
[3] See „Chantiers de brûlage dirige – KIT – Facebook Media Album, 22. Februar 2011“
[4] See « Blognotice 7.08.2013: Les cigales de Port Leucate ».
[5] See Neff & Baum 2012, „The Social Ecology of Californisation & Littoralisation in Mediterranean France,“ oral contribution at the 32nd International Geographical Congress (IGC 2012), Köln, Germany, 26.08.2012 – 30.08.2012. The presentation is available at KITopen, DOI: 10.5445/IR/1000149710.
[6] See « Feux de forêts et lectures de paysages méditerranéens: (Écologie et biogéographie des forêts du bassin méditerranéen ; The Nature of Mediterranean Europe – an Ecological History ; Le feu dans la nature – mythes et réalité) » – and also for example « Blognotice 01.05.2017: « Les fleurs qui poussent à travers les rails de la France périphérique » or « Pyrotragedies – a critical retrospective on the wildfire situation in Europe during July 2018 ».
paysages 