The indicator examines the series of data relating to forest areas affected by large fires on a national, regional and protected area scale over the period 2018 to 2024.

The distribution and extent of forest areas affected by fires generally show significant interannual variability. In particular, 2024 was a year less severely affected by the extent of forest areas impacted by fires compared to previous years. The forest area burned was higher only than that burned in 2018 and 2019, but significantly lower than all the years from 2020 to 2023.

In 2024, the most affected regions were Sicily (2,588 ha), Calabria (2,494 ha) and Sardinia (1,734 ha), which together accounted for 66% of the total national forest area affected by fires.

The most affected forest classes are evergreen broadleaved forests (e.g., holm oak woods and Mediterranean scrub), followed by deciduous broadleaved forests (e.g., oak and beech forests), and much less by coniferous forests (e.g., pine, fir, and larch forests).

Linear regression analysis of the national forest cover series affected by fires does not show an increasing trend, although the size of the series does not allow for medium- and long-term evaluations. A weak but statistically significant increasing trend was instead observed for the regions of Apulia, Basilicata and Calabria.

Defoliation values indicate the level of resilience or susceptibility of tree species to the impact caused by atmospheric depositions and gaseous pollutants. Data collected over the past 27 years (1997–2023) show a fluctuating trend up until 2020, with alternating periods of mitigation and intensification of the phenomenon, as well as a greater sensitivity in broadleaved species. However, in the last three years (2021–2023), a worsening of the phenomenon has been recorded, with defoliation values reaching unprecedented levels. These values, exceeding 40% in 2021 and 2022, reached 45% in 2023 for both broadleaved and coniferous species. This suggests a worsening trend, which will need to be confirmed based on data from the coming years.

The phenomenon of forest fires analyzed based on data collected from 1970 to 2023 by the State Forestry Corps, now CUFA (Carabinieri Forestry, Environmental and Agri-food Unit Command), shows a fluctuating trend, with peak years (1993, 2007, 2017, 2021) alternating with years of decline (2013, 2014, 2018). The presence of fires within Protected Areas is high, with exceptionally large burned areas recorded in certain years, such as 2021 and 2022, when 26,507 hectares and 11,101 hectares were affected by fire, respectively.

The incidence of intentional fires is very high, accounting for approximately half of all recorded events and exceeding 60% in some years (2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2020).