Spain heatwave was ‘most intense on record’


By AFP

August 24, 2025


The August heatwave exacerbated tinderbox conditions that have fuelled deadly wildfires - Copyright POOL/AFP Yves Herman

A 16-day heatwave Spain suffered this month was “the most intense on record”, the national meteorological agency said on Sunday.

With forest fires still burning across northern and western Spain, the AEMET meteorological agency said provisional readings for the August 3-18 heatwave exceeded the last record, set in July 2022, and showed an average temperature 4.6C higher than previous events.

AEMET said a 10-day period from August 8 to August 17, was the hottest 10 consecutive days recorded in Spain since “at least 1950”.

The August heatwave exacerbated tinderbox conditions that have fuelled wildfires which have killed four people and forced thousands out of their homes.

Four people have also died in fires in Portugal, where emergency services are still struggling to control the blazes.

More than 1,100 deaths in Spain have been linked to the August heatwave, according to an estimate released Tuesday by the Carlos III Health Institute.

The institute had already said that 1,060 deaths in July could be attributed to excess heat, a 50 percent rise on the figure for July 2024.

Since it began keeping records in 1975, AEMET has registered 77 heatwaves in Spain, with six going 4C or more above the average. Five of those have been since 2019.

Scientists say climate change is driving longer, more intense and more frequent heatwaves worldwide.

The agency said that it is “a scientific fact that current summers are hotter than in previous decades”.

“Each summer is not always going to be hotter than the previous one, but there is a clear trend towards much more extreme summers. What is key is adapting to, and mitigating, climate change,” it added.

Fires burning in northern regions have destroyed more than 350,000 hectares (865,000 acres) in the past weeks and a record of more than 400,000 hectares since the start of the year.

Authorities say they are only now starting to control the fires.

Firefighters and water-bombing planes from nine European countries have been helping Spanish emergency services.

Hundreds of people are still kept away from their homes though many have started returning in the past 24 hours.

Portugal announced its fourth fatality from the current wildfires on Saturday. The 45-year-old fireman had been critically injured battling the flames last week.

More than 60,000 hectares of land have burned in Portugal in the current heatwave and more than 278,000 hectares since the start of the year.

Central Asian states stepping up efforts to tackle water-related challenges

An extremely dry summer has caused water shortages across Central Asia. / kaz.gov

By Eurasianet August 25, 2025

Summer can be a quiet time in Central Asian capitals, but this August officials in Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan have launched initiatives designed to get a handle on water-related challenges threatening the region.

Uzbekistan has unveiled a three-year water-management programme that strives to promote conservation via the modernisation of the country’s vast irrigation network. Under the plan, antiquated equipment will be replaced on over 2,500 kilometres (1,553 miles) of canals and other hydraulic systems, covering 1.4mn hectares of farmland. 

Drip technologies will be introduced on 300,000 hectares and digital systems will manage water flows across the network, the programme envisions. Pumping stations will be powered by renewable energy sources.

Once implemented, the modernisation is projected to reduce soil salinity and bring 460,000 hectares of land back into cultivation. According to initial projections, overhauling the network will save 10bn cubic metres (bcm) of water during the first year of the programme and up to 14bcm by 2028. Uzbek officials have not put a price tag on the modernisation initiative.

A statement released on August 12 by Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev announced the creation of a water-management training centre that will help ensure state personnel make the most efficient use of the new technologies. A public awareness campaign will also be developed to encourage better water conservation habits among the population.

Kazakh officials, meanwhile, are allocating 305mn tenge (about $566,000) to expand the national Caspian Sea Research Institute. The sea’s level has declined by roughly two meters over the past two decades due to global warming-related factors, and some projections show the shrinkage will accelerate so that by the end of the century the sea may lose up to a quarter of its surface area.

The upgrade to the institute will facilitate research aimed at gaining a better understanding of the factors driving the decline, while also helping to develop effective restoration measures. The funding will additionally enable experts to broaden efforts to measure fish stocks and search for the causes of mass seal deaths.

A more immediate concern for Kazakhstan is an extremely dry summer that has caused a water shortage. The Syr Darya River is running at up to 40% below its normal water level for this time of year, threatening crop yields in the Turkestan and Kyzylorda regions. Reservoirs are also recording worryingly low levels.

Kazakh Deputy Prime Minister Kanat Bozumbayev announced that Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan have agreed to allocate 600mn cubic metres of water to Kazakhstan to alleviate the shortfall over the near term. The Uzbek and Kyrgyz supplies are expected to start flowing into Kazakhstan by the end of August.

Local media also report that Kazakh officials are exploring a deal with an American firm, Dynamic Aviation, to confront yet another water-related hazard — flooding. Authorities are eager to avoid a repeat of the widespread flooding in 2024 that displaced tens of thousands of citizens and caused millions of dollars worth of property damage.

On August 12, company officials met with Nurzhan Nurzhigitov, Kazakhstan’s minister of water resource management, to discuss potential projects on flood forecasting and mitigation. Virginia-based Dynamic Aviation also bills itself as a “leading company specializing in oil spill response.”

Meanwhile, Turkmenistan is trying to catalyse a multilateral response to the Caspian Sea-level issue. The Trend news agency reported on August 12 that Turkmen Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov has circulated a blueprint outlining possibilities for collective action and is seeking commitments from other regional states to convene a summit of Central Asian leaders devoted specifically to preserving the sea’s “ecological integrity.”

At an August 14 meeting of the Central Asian Interstate Commission for Water Coordination (ICWC), a forum that brings together officials and experts from all five regional states, Bozumbayev, the deputy Kazakh prime minister, sounded an alarm, asserting that dwindling water resources are insufficient to meet growing agricultural needs. He also acknowledged that the ICWC to date has been ineffective in creating a viable resource-management system. 

“The times require more dynamic [action] from us,” Bozumbayev said, according to a government statement. “It is necessary not only to discuss and plan, but also to take specific measures.”

Officials from Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan have convened multiple meetings in August, striving to develop more efficient water distribution and management systems covering the Amu Darya and Syr Darya river basins.

This article first appeared on Eurasianet here.