This park in the northeast of the country, considered one of the main reservoirs of biodiversity in the Mediterranean basin, to one total area of nearly 80,000 hectares.
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It has a unique ecosystem in the Mediterranean basin, and classified as a biosphere reserve by Unesco. More than 10,000 hectares of El Kala National Park (Algeria) have been destroyed by forest fires that have ravaged northern Algeria in recent days, academic Rafik Baba Ahmed told AFP.
This park, considered one of the main reservoirs of biodiversity in the Mediterranean basin, has a total area of nearly 80,000 hectares. It is home to several hundred species of birds, mammals and fish which give it “exceptional biological richness”underlines Rafik Baba Ahmed, former director of this park.
The academic says “pessimistic” for the future of the park, because “over time, fires weaken the forest, making it vulnerable to other attacks such as harmful insects, but above all human activities”.
Forest fires in northern Algeria are almost all extinguished, firefighters announced on Saturday. The human toll from the gigantic fires, Wednesday and Thursday in the north of the country, amounts to at least 37 dead according to official data.
Every summer, the north of Algeria is affected by forest fires, a phenomenon which is accentuated from year to year under the effect of climate change, leading to droughts and heat waves. The largest country in Africa, Algeria has only 4.1 million hectares of forest, with a very low rate of reforestation (1.76%).