Portugal: Tourists stranded as wildfires in Madeira endanger world-heritage forests

Sub: IR

Sec: Places in news

Context:

The southern part of Madeira has been experiencing forest fires since last week, devastating over 5,000 hectares of wilderness.

Details:

The wildfires pose a severe threat to the world’s largest surviving laurel (Laurus nobilis) forests, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Madeira is a popular tourist destination in the Iberian Peninsula.
NASA satellite imagery indicates that the fire began in the mountains of Serra de Água on August 14 and quickly spread eastward toward Curral das Freiras and Câmara de Lobos.

Madeira island:

Madeira, officially the Autonomous Region of Madeira, is an autonomous region of Portugal located in the North Atlantic Ocean, part of the Macaronesia region.
The archipelago is situated just under 400 kilometers (250 mi) north of the Canary Islands and 520 kilometers (320 mi) west of Morocco.
Despite being on the African Tectonic Plate, Madeira is culturally, politically, and ethnically tied to Europe, with a population predominantly descended from Portuguese settlers.
Capital: Funchal, located on the main island’s south coast.
The archipelago consists of the islands of Madeira, Porto Santo, and the Desertas, administered alongside the separate Savage Islands archipelago.
The region is part of the European Union as an outermost region.
Laurisilva of Madeira- a UNESCO World Heritage Site:
- The Laurisilva of Madeira is an outstanding relict of a previously widespread laurel forest type.
- It is the largest surviving area of laurel forest and is believed to be 90% primary forest.
- It contains a unique suite of plants and animals, including many endemic species such as the Madeiran long-toed pigeon.

Source: DTE