Brussels: Drought conditions affected 52% of European lands and Mediterranean coastlines last July, marking the fourth consecutive month of drought across the region, the European Drought Observatory (EDO) reported in a study published on Tuesday.
According to Qatar News Agency, this represents the highest percentage recorded for July since data collection began in 2012, exceeding the average for the period between 2012 and 2021 by 21% points.
The region has registered successive record-breaking drought levels monthly since the beginning of 2025. The most severely impacted areas are Eastern Europe and the Balkans, where the proportion of land reaching warning levels has sharply increased in several locations, the study outlines.
In addition, EDO highlighted a sharp increase in drought-affected areas, rising from 9% in June to 56% in July in Hungary, from 6% to 43% in Kosovo, and from 1% to 23% in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
It noted that the heatwaves sweeping across the Balkans since early summer have coincided with a record number of wildfires, including those ignited in open waste dumps, which are often illegal, emitting toxic smoke and gases.
Meanwhile, Turkiye continues to experience persistent drought affecting more than 60% of its territory monthly since March. This has contributed to fires that, last Friday, forced the evacuation of three villages and the suspension of navigation in the Dardanelles Strait in western Turkiye.
The study highlighted that the situation remains more varied in Western Europe. In France, drought affected 68% of the land in July, a significant rise from 44% in June. France was gripped by one of its largest wildfires in history, with flames consuming 13,000 hectares in the southern department of Aude, while much of the region currently faces a second intense heatwave this summer.
In the United Kingdom, conditions have improved compared to previous months, yet over two-thirds of the country still suffers from water shortages. Meanwhile, Spain and Portugal maintain a relatively better situation, with low drought rates of 7% and 5%, respectively.