DF'er makes Siberia part of Europe in its argument that there haven't been particularly many wildfires this year. In Villy Søvndal's eyes, that's too creative.
Thousands of people have been evacuated in France this summer due to wildfires. (Archive photo) (Photo: © Idriss Bigou-Gilles, AFP/Ritzau Scanpix) 48 minutes ago
If this isn't the first time this summer you've opened DR's news app or dr.dk, then you've probably read about the wildfires that have ravaged Europe.
But how severe has it actually been compared to other years?
DF's climate spokesperson, Malte Larsen, has argued that 2026 has been the year with the fewest forest fires in Europe since measurements began.
But Villy Søvndal believes there is little substance to that conclusion. He is a former chairman of SF and former foreign minister – today he sits in the European Parliament for SF.
In the data Malte Larsen references, Siberia is actually counted as part of Europe.
"It's a peculiar form of geography that DF is displaying," writes Villy Søvndal in a written comment to DR.
Villy Søvndal (pictured) and Malte Larsen have vastly different views on climate change and wildfires. (Archive photo) (Photo: © Asger Ladefoged, Ritzau Scanpix)
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'Manipulation'
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Malte Larsen and Villy Søvndal both participated this week in an edition of P1 Debat that dealt precisely with climate change and wildfires. In the program, Malte Larsen accused the SF politician of misinformation and lying. Villy Søvndal had put forward the point that climate change leads to more forest fires in Europe.
But according to the SF politician, it is Malte Larsen who is manipulating the truth.
"That is, to say the least, a creative way of making the numbers fit his political message," writes Søvndal to DR.
"The serious thing is that this kind of manipulation is used to explain away what we can see unfolding before us: violent and destructive forest fires and the consequences of man-made climate change. Instead of discussing how to do something about the problem, DF is trying to talk its way around reality."
Among others, France has been plagued by wildfires this summer. (Photo: © Thibaud Moritz, AFP/Ritzau Scanpix)
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DF'er: DR misleads
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If you use the numbers Malte Larsen uses from the 'Global Wildfire Information System' (GWIS), where Siberia makes up 75 percent of the area, then 2026 is below the historical average for wildfires. If you use data from the European Forest Fire Information System, where Russia is not included, the picture is reversed.
Malte Larsen has confirmed to DR that, when it comes to the discussion of wildfires, he includes Siberia in Europe "as a continent". He accuses other politicians like Villy Søvndal of deliberately misinforming that "the trend is toward more and larger wildfires. In fact, we see the exact opposite: the amount of wildfires is significantly decreasing on a global scale."
"If you listen to left-wing politicians and news – especially from Danmarks Radio – you can easily be misled into getting the opposite impression," writes Malte Larsen to DR.
You can delve deeper into the numbers and get Professor Martin Drews' view on the matter in the article below. He is professor of climate extremes and climate risk management at the Technical University of Denmark, DTU:
Does Siberia belong to Europe? When it comes to forest fires, the answer is yes, according to DF.
Warning: This article was translated by a Large Language Model, in case of doubt, you can always visit the original source.